WSO composer-in-residence triumphantly ends tenure

The 2026 Winnipeg New Music Festival offered an embarrassment of riches Thursday, the cold winter sun setting on this year’s weeklong event as well as the 10-year tenure of WSO composer-in-residence Haralabos (Harry) Stafylakis.

The popular Montreal-born, New York-based composer — who has served as co-curator of the festival with WSO music director Daniel Raiskin — took his final bow to loud cheers and whistles, marking the end of an era in the festival’s 35-year history.

He passes the torch to Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy, who steps into her role in September; remarkably, she’ll be just the fourth composer to helm the festival.

The 110-minute (including intermission) program, Theofanidis and Stafylakis: Sunset, included the WSO-commissioned world première of Stafylakis’s Symphony No. 3: Beyond Horizon.

It also poignantly created a full-circle moment by highlighting the relationship between the artist and his former teacher, Christopher Theofanidis, whose evocative works have been featured all week long as this year’s distinguished guest composer.

The Canadian première of the latter’s clarinet concerto, Indigo Heaven — inspired by American author Mark Warren’s post-Civil War-era novel of the same name — welcomed to the stage the soloist for whom the work was composed, Stephen Williamson.

The artfully crafted work provided a further taste of Theofanidis’s lyrical compositional ethos, with the soloist immediately displaying his full palette of tonal colours, hop-skipping, agile leaps and virtuosic runs during the opening I. Hypnotic, easy.

A particular highlight was his enthralling solo cadenza, which knits together the penultimate movement, II. Vast, patient, and III. Brilliant, the latter replete with pregnant pauses, before driving towards an exuberant close.

The work received an immediate standing ovation from the mostly older crowd.

For the past 10 years, local music fans have been treated to Stafylakis’s bold artistry, which has included everything from works featuring prog metal bands — the composer is a self-professed “metal head” — to more personal pieces delving into his Greek heritage.

This year, his final WNMF offering (dedicated to his wife and infant daughter) again showcased his penchant for grand gesture. Based on Robert Jordan’s literary series, it’s a combustion of what he describes as “themes and ideas that have been swirling around in my head” over the past 10 years.

The five-movement work of Symphony No. 3: Beyond Horizon also proved yet again the composer’s skill for adventuresome orchestration. His effective juxtaposition of such delicate timbres as the harp or glockenspiel with belching brass or pounding drum strikes created swathes of dramatic intensity, while harnessing the full forces of the orchestra, garnering another standing ovation.

If fan-favourite prizes were awarded during this year’s fest, Murphy’s The Confectioner’s Handbook, scored for two guitars and strings, would be a front-runner. Its title refers to a late 19th-century guide to candy making, and the nearly 10-minute concoction bursts with bubbling, boiling joy — an all-too-rare commodity at new music festivals. It spotlighted CC Duo — guitarists Adam Cicchillitti and Steven Cowan — who were nominated earlier this week with Collectif9 for a Juno award for Classical Album of the Year (small ensemble).

Following the duo’s contemplative cadenza introduction, the orchestra, sensitively led by Raiskin, enters with dissonant sustained string harmonies. This tantalizingly textured piece seems to gather steam by the minute, its tempo rising as the guitarists play off each other in dialogue, including tremolo and strumming effects, and beating out rhythms on their instruments. Murphy’s truly exciting work boding well for future new music festivals.

If another prize were given for most arresting work, one that truly captures the spirit of the festival, then the Canadian première of Jacob Muhlrad’s RESIL I would be the hands-down winner. The Swedish composer creates a barren, apocalyptic landscape propelled by muted brass, shards of winds and often densely knitted string harmonies, compelling the listener to adapt to its woozy, kaleidoscopic ethos.

One of the greatest things about the WNMF has always been the opportunity to hear intimate interviews with world-renowned composers, with such musical luminaries as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Corigliano and the less-is-more Arvo Pärt providing audience members with a front-row seat to their creative processes.

However, three of the program’s four featured composers — only Stafylakis appeared onstage — were not able to attend for a variety of reasons (Murphy was in town earlier this month to mentor this year’s crop of emerging artists, showcased during the festival’s opening concert). This arguably deflated the overall energy of the evening, included as part of WSO’s ongoing Thursday’s Classics series.

Nevertheless, the event — which has survived for 35 years, including a global pandemic and, this year, admittedly worrisome lower overall attendance figures — remains an integral force within Winnipeg’s vibrant artistic ecosystem.

The biggest bravo to all those who make it happen — maestro Raiskin, Stafylakis and especially the tireless musicians of the WSO — for this year’s instalment.

winnipegfreepress.com/hollyharris