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![\"Lisa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4142875_web1_Simone-Dinnerstein-4034-lighter-cropped-2-by-Lisa-Marie-Mazzucco.jpg\")
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Lisa Marie Mazzucco photo<\/p>\n
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein will reprise Piano Concerto No. 3 by Philip Glass during the MCO\u2019s new season.<\/p>\n
In three concert programs, guest performers are also composers \u2014 acclaimed contralto Rose Naggar-Tremblay on Sept. 23, Florian Hoefner Jazz Quartet on Nov. 4 and flutist and hoop dancer V. J. Sparvier-Wells on March 17 \u2014 breaking down one of classical music\u2019s traditional divisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the season has the DNA of the MCO, which is a mix of artists that folks will recognize as well as some great new voices, and likewise, with repertoire: we have favourites and some really fun new discoveries,\u201d says MCO executive director Sean McManus.<\/p>\n
The MCO, historically based at Westminster United Church (and more recently Crescent Arts Centre), also explores new venues.<\/p>\n
Alongside MCO music director Anne Manson, McManus has programmed eight concerts this season (four conducted by Manson), across four venues \u2014 five at Crescent Arts Centre and the remainder at Desautels Concert Hall, The Forks and St. Boniface Cathedral.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not hard to recognize the established favourites McManus is referring to. One of these is University of Manitoba graduate Andriana Chuchman, a former pupil of Tracy Dahl, whose unmistakable coloratura has echoed in the world\u2019s most illustrious opera houses and concert halls alongside the likes of Placido Domingo and Juan Diego Fl\u00f3rez.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally excited to be working with Andriana again. Big (local) roots and well known by audiences here \u2014 a star,\u201d says McManus. \u201cShe\u2019s paired with (Iranian Canadian countertenor) Cameron Shahbazi, who\u2019s one of the new artists, and they\u2019re doing Stabat Mater (by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi) \u2014 which is such a dramatic and evocative piece of music.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their outdoor concert, within the weathered walls of St. Boniface Cathedral\u2019s ruins, takes place May 19 \u2014 and, based on Chuchman\u2019s precedent with the MCO, may sell out.<\/p>\n
Another beloved regular is Simone Dinnerstein, one of America\u2019s leading Bach pianists, whose collaborations with Philip Glass intersect with the MCO. His Piano Concerto No. 3 \u2014 co-commissioned and premi\u00e8red in Canada by the MCO in 2017 \u2014 was conceived after she wowed him with her renditions of old J.S. at a private gathering.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Frederik Robitaille photo<\/p>\n St\u00e9phane T\u00e9treault will perform Cello Concerto No. 1 by Airat Ichmouratov.<\/p>\n Dinnerstein is back to reprise the Bach-inspired concerto Feb. 18, in a concert that also features Glass\u2019s iconic score to The Hours, which the MCO recorded in 2012. (The MCO also reprises two other commissions this season by Canadians Karen Sunabacka and Vivian Fung.)<\/p>\n Six days later, Manson conducts another Glass-themed program with leading Canadian violinist Kerson Leong in a concert that also features two works by P\u00e4rt.<\/p>\n \u201cAnne Manson, our music director, has this long connection to Philip Glass and his music. It\u2019s his 90th birthday in 2027 and we felt that it was important to celebrate that,\u201d says McManus.<\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t be an MCO season without at least one cello-centric concert, and this year it\u2019s a relative newcomer \u2014 Juno nominee St\u00e9phane T\u00e9treault performing Cello Concerto No. 1 by Airat Ichmouratov, who takes centre stage with his little big viola Dec. 9.<\/p>\n By contrast, it\u2019s been several years since audiences have seen a recorder player on MCO stages. That changes next season when virtuoso Vincent Lauzier joins the MCO on May 19 to perform Biber, Telemann and others.<\/p>\n \u201cI think one of the fun things about recorders is you\u2019ll have a table with all of the instruments laid out, right from the smallest ones to the biggest; people love to hear musicians flying on the recorder,\u201d McManus says.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t While the instrument has a deep baroque legacy, it\u2019s perhaps most often heard today not on concert stages, but in K-6 classrooms. This concert should offer some unique opportunities for the MCO, whose always-growing community engagement work extends to schools, libraries and other community spaces, McManus says.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Ruth Bonneville \/ Free Press<\/p>\n Sean McManus, executive director of the MCO, promises the new season will feature a mix of familiar artists as well as some great new voices.<\/p>\n Tickets are on sale now for the MCO\u2019s 2026-27 season, which has the tagline: \u201cVoice. Place. Connection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were really thinking, not just about great artists and great repertoire, but the experience for people being together in this place, experiencing this music,\u201d says McManus.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason we do live music is so that people can get together in the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/conradsweatman<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Conrad Sweatman Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for\u00a0outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad.<\/a><\/p>\n
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