Music for your stomach

JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

WSO music director Alexander Mickelthwate (top, right) hits the right after-dinner notes.

Sometime last year, the folks behind the scenes at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra -- always on the lookout for a new way to share the music -- had a tasty new idea.

That idea went something like this: with so many symphony-goers going out for a pre-show dinner, why not let the WSO meet both those needs at once, and offer a culinary experience to match the concert one?

For the food, they'd ask some of Winnipeg's top restaurants to cook up a menu themed to fit with the evening's music. For the venue, they'd dual-purpose the Centennial Concert Hall. And for a title, they'd go with the obvious: Dinner and a Symphony.

Recently, the WSO kicked off the four-dinner series with a three-course meal to accompany Rhythm & Heat, a concert of Spanish, Mexican and Egyptian compositions. The restaurant chosen to cater the affair was funky Osborne Village eatery Fude; the evening's key flavour, just like the sauntering dances of Falla's The Three Cornered Hat ballet, was spicy.

As it turns out, that combo appealed to Winnipeggers. Two-and-a-half hours before the musicians struck the first note of Jose Pablo Mancayo's Huapango, 72 symphony-goers -- some veteran WSO supporters, others curious first-timers lured by an advertisement in the paper -- gathered for dinner.

While waiting to nibble on a meal of garlicky cardini salad (a field-green twist, we were told, on Caesar Cardini's more famous romaine salad) and Fude's sizzling Mexican-inspired chocolate chicken, WSO organizers expressed satisfaction with the experiment.

"This combining of the senses we have not tried here before in the same way," said a beaming WSO executive director Trudy Schroeder, opening the meal at 5:30 p.m. on a slushy Saturday. "And it's an excellent turnout, in spite of the weather."

Not that the symphony's fortunes were depending on it. "It's not a fundraiser," clarified WSO board president and publisher Dorothy Dobbie, as the crowd waited for Fude owner-chef Chris Fougere to offer his remarks on the meal. "The idea is that you don't have to rush through a pre-symphony dinner at a restaurant... tonight is all about you enjoying music and food."

That's the inspiration, though the final product isn't quite a restaurant experience. The WSO's interpretation of dinner and a symphony is a little different: the menu is fixed, with flexibility for food restrictions. Instead of a wine waiter, the cash bar is a short walk away from the tables.

And rather than flickering candles and the low buzz of a top-end restaurant, the curious dine under the crisp chandelier lights and looming staircases bordering the Centennial Concert Hall's open-plan Piano Nobile gallery, its titular piano tucked under the Manitoba art that lines the wall.

But in trade for those things -- the ambiance, the flexibility -- the WSO's dinner and symphony offers something more like an adventure. Thanks to tables seating eight, guests booked mostly in pairs, and some gentle urging to sample the wine pairings, the night offers fans a chance to hobnob not only with each other, but with WSO luminaries as well -- at the Rhythm & Heat dinner, Dobbie and Schroeder clinked glasses with their diverse tablemates.

Plus, this is your chance to get up close and personal with some of the chefs of the city's leading restaurants: after his food was served, Fougere hopped from table to table to answer questions and offer a little self-effacing humour.

"One thing I love about Winnipeg," Fougere said with a wink after discovering a table of devoured chocolate chicken, "is that even if they don't like it, they'll eat it all."

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Melodic menus

Ears perked and mouth watering? There are three more chances to partake in the WSO's first Dinner and a Symphony series. All dinners start at 5:30 and concerts begin at 8 p.m.; vegetarian substitutions are available for all main courses. Tickets start at $85 for dinner and the concert. Fans who already have tickets can add the dinner for $60. Ticket information available at WSO.ca or 949-3999.

Boreyko and Russian Masters

Feb. 20

To complement the WSO's robust lineup

of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Rimsky-Korsakov, the chefs at buzz-heavy restaurant Bistro 71/4 have concocted a menu that features Russian classics such as Minsk eggs, meat and cabbage perogies and sour cream and potato blini. Oh, and spare the wine -- this meal is meant to be enjoyed with an ice-cold glass of vodka.

Classic Movie Heroes and Villains

March 27

Silver screen on a simple plate: the evening's WSO Pops concert will see pops conductor Jeff Tyzik leading the symphony through duelling good and evil themes from films like King Kong, Star Wars and James Bond classics. Bergmann's on Lombard has designed a menu that features good ol' 'Merican flavours such as a chicken breast garnished with a vermouth and tomato tapenade. For dessert? It doesn't get much more quintessentially Yankee than apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Pines, Fountains & Festivals

May 15

Take a five-hour Roman holiday on this evening, which matches Ottorino Respighi's famous orchestral trilogy -- titled, in case you couldn't guess, Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome, and Festivals of Rome -- with a sumptuous three-course Italian dinner including veal marsala and panna cotta, presented by the team from the Lobby on York.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 3, 2010 D3