SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2018 I ISSUE 1 WELCOMING MAESTRO DANIEL RAISKIN MAHLER’S TITAN DISNEY: SILLY SYMPHONY CASABLANCA WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA Photographer: Marco Borggreve wso.ca I 204-949-3999 MESSAGE FROM THE MUSIC DIRECTOR Welcome to a new and exciting season of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra! “From the heart, may it go further, to the heart!” is the famous inscription on the score of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. I chose this motto since everyone of us at WSO – musicians, board and staff alike – are passionate about the music we’d like to reach your hearts. As the WSO’s new Music Director, I feel privileged and blessed presenting my first season built on a 70-year legacy of an institution so strongly embedded in the community, so respected and loved in Winnipeg. Like many of us, The Beatles played a significant role in my life as a teenager in the Soviet Union, where the group was actually banned for years. I am particularly excited about Classical Mystery Tour – A Tribute to The Beatles, a show that presents some 30 Beatles tunes sung, played, and performed exactly as they were written. The Beatles recorded with a 41-piece orchestra, so this is going to sound bigger than any recording you’ve ever heard! For kids and parents alike – no one will leave without a smile after having fun at our Disney in Concert: A Silly Symphony Celebration. Groundbreaking cartoons by Walt Disney Studios accompanied by their original scores, performed live by full orchestra – it will be a real treat. Continuing our commitment to presenting the finest scores of film music, we move on to Casablanca with Live Orchestra. Casablanca is often rated as one of the best movies ever and if you have not seen it yet – now is the time. Captivating performances by Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart and a few iconic lines like “Here’s looking at you, kid” will spring to life like never before. Our Masterworks concerts in September and October each feature works that have changed the course of music forever. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 “Titan” is the symphony as much about space as it is about time. And however familiar it might sound to us in 21st century, when we hear this music, we should try and recreate the sense of wonder that audiences felt during premiere of this revolutionary work in Budapest in 1889. Even more stunned were the audiences in Paris in May 1913 at the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” We have often heard about the riot it provoked when it was first performed, and even though I do not expect riots breaking out at Centennial Concert Hall, it is easy to comprehend why it was so shocking, provocative and groundbreaking then. This iconic work is a ballet and our collaboration with Buffy Handel’s Aboriginal School of Dance and Odette Heyn-Projects will surely imbue performance with joy and thrill of dance. We are also excited to welcome young Canadian pianist Charles-Richard Hamelin for his debut with WSO. Silver medalist and laureate of the Krystian Zimerman award at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, he is surely an authority when it comes to performing Chopin’s 1st Piano Concerto. There is much to discover and to enjoy in our season and I am confident that you will not leave after our concerts untouched and uninspired.You, our beloved audience, have a unique ability to inspire us musicians to aim for the stars. And, rephrasing another iconic line from Casablanca:“We’ll always have music.” Daniel Raiskin Music Director 1 OVERTURE I September – November 2018 WSO SPONSORS, FUNDERS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The WSO proudly acknowledges the ongoing support of the following sponsors, media and funders: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PARTNER EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN MEMORY OF PETER D. CURRY SIOBHAN RICHARDSON FOUNDATION THE S.M. BLAIR FAMILY THE BERTRAM AUSTIN GOODMAN, MARY EASTON MCLAREN GOODMAN FOUNDATION AND DOROTHY JEAN GOODMAN FOUNDATION KIDS CONCERTS CLASSICS A NIGHT AT THE WSO IN SERIES SERIES MOVIES SERIES BRANDON PERFORMANCE SPONSORS DANIEL FRIEDMAN ARNOLD & MYRA & ROB DALGLIESH FRIEMAN MANITOBA HYDRO SOUNDCHECK POPS PRESENTING OFFICIAL RADIO STATION HOLIDAY TOUR PROGRAM MEDIA PARTNER OF THE WSO CLASSICS PIANO RAFFLE CAR RAFFLE CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY Women’s Committee of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra FUNDERS September – November 2018 I OVERTURE 2 CONDUCTORS AND COMPOSERS Daniel Raiskin, Music Director A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg. He attended music school and later the celebrated conservatory in his native city, where he studied violin, viola and conducting. At the age of twenty, Daniel Raiskin left the Soviet Union to continue his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg.Inspired to take up the baton by an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich, he also took classes with Maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson and Jorma Panula. Raiskin, who cultivates a broad repertoire, often looks beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programmes. He was Chief Conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005-2016) and held the same title with the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestrain Lódz (2008-2015). From the 2017-2018 season onwards, Daniel Raiskin will be Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife and of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Artistic Partner of the Chamber Orchestra St. Michael Strings in Finland. Julian Pellicano, Resident Conductor A musician with wide-ranging musical interests, conductor Julian Pellicano has made his mark with a multifaceted approach to programming and performing, engaging audiences in a diverse mélange of concerts and genres. Dedicated to invigorating performances of the traditional and contemporary symphonic repertoire, Pellicano’s range has extended to films live with orchestra, classical and modern ballet, collaborations with composers, opera, pops, musical theater, multi-media productions, workshops, as well as carefully programmed concerts for young listeners.The Winnipeg Free Press says of Pellicano,“His versatility is truly astonishing…” The 2018 - 2019 season includes exciting debut performances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as well as a return to conduct two productions with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.This year also marks Pellicano’s sixth season as Resident Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra with concerts on the WSO’s Masterworks Series in addition to leading a multitude of performances throughout the season on the WSO’s Pops, Movie, Kids, Specials and Education series. He studied conducting on fellowship at the Yale School of Music where he was also a member of the critically acclaimed Yale Percussion Group. Harry Stafylakis, Composer-in-Residence,WNMF Festival Director New York City-based composer Harry Stafylakis (b. 1982) hails from Montreal. "Dreamy yet rhythmic" (NY Times), with a “terrible luminosity”and “ferociously expressive”(Times Colonist), his concert music is “an amalgamation of the classical music tradition and the soul and grime of heavy metal”(I Care If You Listen). He is the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's Composer-In-Residence and Co-Curator of the Winnipeg New Music Festival. His works have been performed by the Toronto, Winnipeg,Vancouver, Edmonton,Victoria, Spokane, Stamford, and PEI symphonies, American Composers Orchestra, McGill Chamber Orchestra, ICE, Contemporaneous, Mivos Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, and Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, among others. www.hstafylakis.com 3 OVERTURE I September – November 2018 WINNIPEG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2018-2019 SEASON MUSIC DIRECTOR CELLOS TRUMPETS Daniel Raiskin Yuri Hooker, Principal Chris Fensom, Principal Leana Rutt, Assistant Principal Paul Jeffrey RESIDENT CONDUCTOR Alex Adaman Isaac Pulford Julian Pellicano Arlene Dahl The Patty Kirk Memorial Chair Carolyn Nagelberg COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE TROMBONES Emma Quackenbush Harry Stafylakis Steven Dyer, Principal **Alyssa Ramsay Keith Dyrda FIRST VIOLINS Sean Taubner Gwen Hoebig, Concertmaster BASS TROMBONE The Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt- BASSES **Isabelle Lavoie, Principal Gramatté Memorial Chair, endowed Meredith Johnson, Principal by the Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation Andrew Goodlett, Assistant Principal TUBA Karl Stobbe, Associate Concertmaster Travis Harrison *Chris Lee, Principal Mary Lawton, Assistant Concertmaster Paul Nagelberg **Jarrett McCourt Chris Anstey Bruce Okrainec Mona Coarda Daniel Perry TIMPANI Teodora Dimova **Anna Scheider Mike Kemp, Principal Tara Fensom Hong Tian Jia FLUTES PERCUSSION Meredith McCallum Jan Kocman, Principal Frederick Liessens, Principal Sonia Shklarov Alex Conway Julie Savard HARP Jun Shao OBOES Richard Turner, Principal Endowed by W.H. & S.E. Loewen Beverly Wang, Principal SECOND VIOLINS Jeremy Buzash, Principal Robin MacMillan Elation Pauls, Assistant Principal ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL Karen Bauch ENGLISH HORN MANAGER Kristina Bauch Robin MacMillan, Principal Greg Hay Elizabeth Dyer Bokyung Hwang CLARINETS PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN Rodica Jeffrey Micah Heilbrunn, Principal Greg Hamilton **Momoko Matsumura Taylor Eiffert Susan McCallum The James Thomson Memorial Chair ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN *Takayo Noguchi Laura MacDougall Jane Pulford BASSOONS Claudine St-Arnauld Kathryn Brooks, Acting Principal **Brenton Foster *On Leave VIOLAS **Temporary Position Daniel Scholz, Principal HORNS Please note: Non-titled (tutti) Anne Elise Lavallée, Patricia Evans, Principal string players are listed Assistant