The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
. Its primary concert venue is the
Centennial Concert Hall
Centennial Concert Hall is a 2305-seat performing arts centre located at 555 Main Street in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as part of the Manitoba Centennial Centre. The concert hall opened on March 25, 1968.
It is the performing home of th ...
, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba. The WSO presents an average of 80 concerts per year. The WSO also provides orchestral accompaniment to the
Royal Winnipeg Ballet
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America.
History
It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...
and the
Manitoba Opera
Manitoba Opera is an opera company in Winnipeg, Manitoba that was founded in 1969. Its first production was a concert version of Giuseppe Verdi's ''Il Trovatore'' in 1972. Manitoba Opera is one of several western Canadian opera companies that f ...
. The orchestra's current executive director is Angela Birdsell, since July 2021.
History
Established in 1947, the WSO played its first concert on December 16, 1948, in the Civic Auditorium. Walter Kaufmann was the WSO's first music director, from 1948 to 1958. Victor Feldbrill, the WSO's only Canadian Music Director to date, succeeded Kaufmann in 1958. The WSO initially performed out of the Civic Auditorium until April 1968, when the WSO moved to its present home in the 2,300-seat
Centennial Concert Hall
Centennial Concert Hall is a 2305-seat performing arts centre located at 555 Main Street in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as part of the Manitoba Centennial Centre. The concert hall opened on March 25, 1968.
It is the performing home of th ...
.
In 1992, then-Music Director
Bramwell Tovey
Bramwell Tovey (11 July 1953 – 12 July 2022) was a British conductor and composer.
Life and career
Tovey was educated at Ilford County High School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London. His formal music education was as ...
and the WSO's Composer-in-Residence Glenn Buhr, along with others, created the WSO's ''New Music Festival''. In the 2011–2012 season, the WSO began the 'Sistema Winnipeg' programme, modelled after Venezuela's
El Sistema
El Sistema (which translates to The System) is a publicly financed, voluntary sector, music-education program, founded in Venezuela in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician, and activist José Antonio Abreu.Lesniak It later adopted the motto "M ...
, to provide music education to disadvantaged children in Winnipeg.
Andrey Boreyko
Andrey Boreyko (russian: Андре́й Ви́кторович Боре́йко, Andrey Viktorovich Boreyko, pl, Andrzej Borejko; born 22 July 1957) is a Polish-Russian conductor.
He has Polish ancestry on his father's side and Russian ancestry ...
was the WSO's music director from 2001 to 2006. During his tenure, the musicians experienced a labour lockout in December 2001, and the mass resignation of the orchestra's board in the winter of 2003. The musicians took a 20% pay cut and Boreyko donated a portion of his salary to the orchestra during the financially troubled 2002–2003 season. The orchestra musicians took an additional pay cut for the 2003–2004 season. The orchestra retired its accumulated debt in September 2005. In his final season as music director, Boreyko led six weeks of concerts, in contrast to 12 the season before. Overall, Boreyko received praise for his musicianship, but also criticism for a lack of community outreach, and not fulfilling an intention to establish residency in Winnipeg.
In February 2006,
Alexander Mickelthwate
Alexander Mickelthwate (born 2 June 1970 in Frankfurt, West Germany) is a German-born conductor who is the current music director and principal conductor of Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
Early life and education
He is one of three sons in his fam ...
was named the WSO's eighth music director. He took up the post in September 2006, with an initial contract of 3 years. In December 2008, Mickelthwate extended his contract with the orchestra through the 2012 season. His Winnipeg contract was further extended through the 2015–2016 season. In May 2017, the orchestra announced that Mickelthwate would conclude his music directorship of the orchestra after the close of the 2017–2018 season.
In 2015, Daniel Raiskin first guest-conducted the WSO. In February 2018, the WSO announced the appointment of Raiskin as its next music director, effective with the 2018–2019 season.
Discography
*''The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra'' (1977)
*''Kunzel on Broadway'' (1985)
*''Songs of paradise / Chants du paradis'' (1988)
*''Mozartiana'' (1993)
*''Collage'' (1994)
*''Music for Violin and Orchestra'' (1998)
*''Lark Ascending'' (1998)
*''Songs of Paradise'' (1998)
*''Winter Poems'' (1999)"Winter Poems: Music of Glenn Buhr" ''AllMusic'' Review by Joseph Stevenson
*''Symphony no. 9'' (2006)
*''I believe: a Holocaust Oratorio for Today'' (2009)
Victor Feldbrill
Victor Feldbrill, (April 4, 1924 – June 17, 2020) was a Canadian conductor and violinist.
Early life and education
Feldbrill was born in Toronto,George Cleve (1968–1970)
* Piero Gamba (1971–1980)
*
Kazuhiro Koizumi
is a Japanese conductor who has had an active international career since the 1970s. Koizumi was one among the founding conductors of the New Japan Philharmonic established in July 197He has appeared as a guest conductor throughout Europe and the ...
(1983–1988)
*
Bramwell Tovey
Bramwell Tovey (11 July 1953 – 12 July 2022) was a British conductor and composer.
Life and career
Tovey was educated at Ilford County High School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London. His formal music education was as ...
(1989–2001)
*
Andrey Boreyko
Andrey Boreyko (russian: Андре́й Ви́кторович Боре́йко, Andrey Viktorovich Boreyko, pl, Andrzej Borejko; born 22 July 1957) is a Polish-Russian conductor.
He has Polish ancestry on his father's side and Russian ancestry ...
(2001–2006)
*
Alexander Mickelthwate
Alexander Mickelthwate (born 2 June 1970 in Frankfurt, West Germany) is a German-born conductor who is the current music director and principal conductor of Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
Early life and education
He is one of three sons in his fam ...
List of symphony orchestras
This is a list of symphony orchestras that includes orchestras with established notability. A list of youth orchestras can be found at List of youth orchestras.
Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
*Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste
Egypt
*C ...
*
Canadian classical music
In Canada, classical music includes a range of musical styles rooted in the traditions of Western or European classical music that European settlers brought to the country from the 17th century and onwards. As well, it includes musical styles bro ...