SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER 2017 I ISSUE 1 HAPPY 70TH WSO ARRIVAL FROM SWEDEN: THE MUSIC OF ABBA SCHEHERAZADE FALL FESTIVAL: ANGELS & DEMONS wso.ca I 204-949-3999 ECSTASY AND DESPAIR,yin and yang,the duality of the human spirit… For this year’s Autumn Festival, the WSO dives into musical visions of our highest aspirations and darkest conceits. Liszt’s massive tone poem inspired by Dante’s Inferno.Kurt Weill’s ground-breaking musical Seven Deadly Sins.Henryk Górecki’s masterpiece Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. Visionary works of art inspired by powerful themes. Oct 27/28 Beethoven, Chopin and a Oct 30 Natasha Paremski plays Pictures at an Exhibition Sorrowful Song (WSO) Oct 31 Frankenstein!! (WSO) Oct 29 Songs of Darkness and Light Nov 1 Winnipeg Chamber Music Society (Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir) Nov 3/4 Seven Deadly Sins (WSO) wso.ca/autumn-festival MESSAGE FROM THE MUSIC DIRECTOR Welcome to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s 70th Anniversary Season! From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank the musicians, board, staff, supporters, and most importantly, you, our audience, for helping us create this 70-year legacy. We are incredibly grateful for this city that has embraced our orchestra. As always, this season we will hear symphonic music in many different ways. Arrival from Sweden brings an incomparable tribute to ABBA. In October, the enfant terrible himself Ashley MacIsaac fiddles Cape Breton style like no one else. Our Great-West Life Kids Concerts start with Scheherazade:Sinbad,Aladdin,and other magical tales from The Arabian Nights – a musical treat parents will like just as much as the kids, or even more so. Our first Classics concert Happy 70th WSO! pays homage to the orchestra’s anniversary. Victor Feldbrill, WSO Music Director from 1958-1968, now 92, joins us with his selection of Beethoven’s dramatic Lenore Overture No. 3.I can only hope to have his stamina when I’m his age. This year’s Autumn Festival is a personal highlight for me.The music we selected for this week with our partners plays to the theme of Angels & Demons.There’s mysticism and paranormal themes in this music and it gives us the chance to wade deep into the emotional waters of the human spirit where we’ll go from ecstasy to despair. As audience members, I invite you to experience where these composers can take us as we all open the door to an alternative reality. I don’t have enough room here to dig into the breadth of the festival, so please visit wso.ca for more about this music and concept of the festival. If you, or someone you know, is interested in taking in some WSO concerts this year but are not sure where to start, we’ve created something called the Beginner’s Guide to the Symphony.Visit our website and we will help you navigate this exciting world and get you into experiences that will speak to your soul – because that’s what it’s really all about. This year is my final season at the helm of the WSO, and throughout the year I will have many celebratory moments, passion projects, and music I can’t wait to conduct. It’s bitter sweet to leave this wonderfully cultural city and the many friends I have made, but I can’t wait for this new adventure professionally, musically, and personally for my family and me. I wouldn’t trade the memories I’ve made here for anything, and I can only hope that I have inspired a passion for music in Winnipeg. Here’s to this year of celebration and music! Auf Wiedersehen, Alexander Mickelthwate Music Director September – October 2017 I OVERTURE 1 The 70th anniversary of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is a wonderful time to look back in gratitude to those who have been a part of our history. We are so grateful to those members of our community who have shaped our present accomplishments, especially our Maestro, Alexander Mickelthwate. In honour of Alexander’s final year as our Music Director we are establishing an endowment fund in his name. This means that every year, in perpetuity, Alexander’s legacy will continue to be a source of support, stability, and inspiration to us. With an endowment fund in his name, every year, we will remember Alexander’s legacy as one of energy, a passion for achievement, and the confidence to break new ground. Making a gift to his endowment will ensure his years of dedication to our orchestra have continuing impact on the WSO. If you would like to make a gift to the Alexander Mickelthwate Endowment, you can do so by going to wso.ca/support or call Shenna Song at (204) 494-3973. Make your endowment donation by November 15th and it will be eligible to be matched! Market Value of WSO Endowment Fund: $7.29 million Current annual dispersal: $300,000 per year 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 POPS KIDS CONCERTS CLASSICS A SERIES SERIES SERIES WSO IN BRANDON INDIVIDUAL CONCERTS DANIEL FRIEDMAN ARNOLD & MYRA & ROB DALGLIESH FRIEMAN MICHAEL NESBITT 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 – October 2017 I OVERTURE 3 CONDUCTORS AND COMPOSERS Alexander Mickelthwate, Music Director German conductor Alexander Mickelthwate is renowned for his “splendid, richly idiomatic readings” (LA Weekly),“fearless” approach and “first-rate technique” (Los Angeles Times). Critics have noted Alexander’s extraordinary command over the Austro-Germanic repertoire, commenting on the “passion, profundity, emotional intensity, subtlety and degree of perfection achieved” in Bruckner’s Symphony Photographer: Grajewski Fotograph Inc. No. 7 as “miraculous” (Anton Kuerti, 2011). Following on from his tenure as Assistant Conductor with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which he completed in 2004, Alexander Mickelthwate was Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for three years, under the direction of Essa-Pekka Salonen. Now in his tenth season as Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Alexander has significantly developed the orchestra’s profile through active community engagement and innovative programming initiatives like the annual Winnipeg New Music Festival and the Indigenous Music Festival. Chosen to perform at the Carnegie Hall Spring For Music Festival in New York, May 2014, due to “creative and innovative programming”(CBC Manitoba Scene), the orchestra was the only Canadian ensemble in the showcase. Julian Pellicano, Resident Conductor A conductor with expansive musical interests, Julian Pellicano is a formidable interpreter of the symphonic repertoire.The Winnipeg Free Press says of Pellicano,“His versatility is truly astonishing…”Marking his fifth season with the WSO, the 2017-2018 season includes appearances at the inaugural edition of the Ciclo de Música Contemporánea in Oviedo, Spain, a return to the Louisiana Philharmonic and his first appearance conducting the Photographer: Nardella Photography Inc. Royal Winnipeg Ballet among many other highlights. The creation, with Dr. Paul Lehrman, of a new performance edition of George Antheil's Ballet Mecanique first brought Pellicano to the public’s attention. Conductor of the Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble since 2008, Pellicano is recognized for his transparent interpretations of contemporary music. He studied conducting as a fellow at the Yale School of Music. An autodidact, he was accepted to the Peabody Conservatory as a percussionist without typical classical training, and continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden and at the Yale School of Music and was a member of the critically acclaimed Yale Percussion Group. Pellicano also holds a degree in philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University. Harry Stafylakis, Composer-in-Residence,WNMF Festival Director Harry Stafylakis(b. 1982) hails from Montreal and is now based in NYC. He is the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's Composer-In-Residence and Festival Director of the WSO's Winnipeg New Music Festival. His works have been performed by the American Composers Orchestra, the Toronto,Winnipeg,Vancouver, Spokane, Stamford,Victoria, and PEI symphonies, McGill Chamber Orchestra, ICE, Contemporaneous, Mivos Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, and Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, among others. Awards include the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the ASCAP Foundation’s Leonard Bernstein Award, four SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers, and grants from the Canada Council, NYSCA, and New Music USA. He is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the NYC composer collective ICEBERG New Music. Stafylakis holds degrees from McGill University and The Graduate Center, CUNY,and lectures at the City College of New York. His doctoral research, supported by SSHRC, examines rhythm and meter in progressive metal. www.hstafylakis.com 4 OVERTURE I September – October 2017 WINNIPEG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2017-2018 SEASON MUSIC DIRECTOR CELLOS TRUMPETS Alexander Mickelthwate Yuri Hooker, Principal Chris Fensom, Principal Leana Rutt, Assistant Principal Paul Jeffrey RESIDENT CONDUCTOR Isaac Pulford **Desiree Abbey Julian Pellicano Alex Adaman TROMBONES COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE Arlene Dahl Steven Dyer, Principal Harry Stafylakis Carolyn Nagelberg Keith Dyrda Emma Quackenbush FIRST VIOLINS Sean Taubner BASS TROMBONE Gwen Hoebig, Concertmaster **Stephen Clayton, Principal The Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt- *Julia McIntyre, Principal BASSES Gramatté Memorial Chair, endowed Meredith Johnson, Principal by the Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation TUBA Karl Stobbe, Associate Concertmaster Andrew Goodlett, Assistant Principal Chris Lee, Principal Mary Lawton, Assistant Concertmaster Travis Harrison Chris Anstey Paul Nagelberg TIMPANI Mona Coarda Bruce Okrainec Mike Kemp, Principal Teodora Dimova Daniel Perry Tara Fensom PERCUSSION **Anna Scheider Hong Tian Jia Frederick Liessens, Principal Meredith McCallum Sonia Shklarov FLUTES HARP Julie Savard Jan Kocman, Principal Richard Turner, Principal Jun Shao Endowed by W.H.