Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra makes spirits bright

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This article was published 11/12/2021 (1682 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra made spirits bright Friday night as it presented the first of three weekend Holiday Pops shows led by Julian Pellicano, celebrating the fine homegrown talent right here in our own snowy backyards.

An early highlight became Winnipeg-based singer-songwriter/storyteller Raine Hamilton, who treated the mixed-generation crowd of 845 to “La Plaine,” before touching our hearts with “Everything.” This latter, lilting ballad sung with sincerity added a gentle grace note to the overall program, with Hamilton’s dedication of the piece to the “ones we have we lost, but hold in our hearts,” reflecting the often highly complex, emotional undertow of the festive season.

Another proved to be “’Twas the Night before Christmas,” featuring new WSO Executive Director Angela Birdsell as the first of three weekend guest storytellers reciting the beloved children’s tale. Her animated, good sport delivery while garbed in a lime green “onesie” festooned with pom-poms made this truly entertaining; also receiving appreciative applause from the orchestra members.

The evening’s most powerful moment belonged to traditional singer/drummer, Walking Wolf Ray “Co-Co” Stevenson and Kael Sauerborn, who actually did stop the show with Pellicano’s arrangement of “Comes to Light,” heightened further by multi-media artist James Culleton’s magical, mesmerizing shadow puppet theatre. Their heartfelt song depicting the “return home” of the spirits of countless Indigenous children murdered as a result of Canadian residential schools felt raw, real, and well deserved its mid-evening standing ovation by the deeply moved crowd – showing the potency of art to heal, or at least possibly salve still gaping wounds of injustice.

Sixteen members of Winnipeg’s world-renowned Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble left us wanting more with its all-too-brief, albeit still dazzling performance of “Polissian Dance,” matched equally in joyous, high-octane energy by Ca Claque! comprised of Franco-Manitoban and Metis dancers and musicians in “Jigsaw Jig.” And what a pleasure to see beaming smiles – and even human expression – again in today’s ubiquitous sea of masked faces.

Not to be outdone, Winnipeg aerialist Katerina MacGregor from Momentum Aerial and Acrobatic Troupe wowed viewers with her suspended silks, performing like a lithe angel high above the stage during Ralph Vaughan Williams’ kinder, gentler “Fantasia on Greensleeves.”

Pellicano, serving as an ebullient host throughout the evening, paid homage to the “unsung heroes” of symphonic pops series, i.e. the arrangers quite rightfully given their just due. One of those is Saskatchewan’s Maria Fuller, who created a nifty rendition of Mykola Leontovych’s “Carol of the ‘Metallic Bells,’” while Morton Gould’s later, highly textural orchestration of James Pierpont’s “Jingle Bells,” including oozy modulations and even woozier trombone glissandi – capped by repetitive, insistent slapstick strikes suggesting a horse being whipped to death – has now earned the title of the most bizarre arrangement of this holiday classic this writer has ever heard.

Second prize goes to Tim Berens’ “A Winter Miracle,” a fearlessly ambitious, mashing together of Vivaldi’s “Winter” excerpted from his “The Four Seasons” violin concerti juxtaposed with the Jewish Festival of Lights song, “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah,” despite concertmaster Gwen Hoebig’s passionate solo performance. Still, overlaying the Baroque masterpiece with the children’s tune had its proverbial, revelatory “aha” moments, albeit it admittedly takes a leap of faith to imagine the gusts and gale storms of “winter” in the Middle East birthplace of the ancient rite.

It wouldn’t be a Holidays Pops concert without Leroy Anderson’s perennially popular “Sleigh Ride,” with Pellicano – now with his own whip-cracking slapstick in hand on the podium – riding high. Selections from Tchaikovsky’s iconic ballet score “The Nutcracker” became another highlight; allowing us to fully hear the beauty of Donna Laube’s delicate celeste and Richard Turner’s gorgeously lyrical harp during “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” and “Waltz of the Flowers,” respectively; now untethered to the requisite tempo demands of ballet dancers.

Missing in action this year was the annual carol sing-along, doubtlessly owing to pandemic restrictions, although the entire orchestra wishing us a muffled “Happy Holidays!” from within their masks that ultimately led to a final standing ovation, ensured we all went home happy and hopeful for better days to come.

The concert repeats in-person and via livestream on Saturday, 7:30 p.m. as well as Sunday, 2 p.m. For tickets or further information, visit: https://wso.ca/

Holly.harris@shaw.ca