MCO Managing Director Vicki Young was  Sarah Jo's guest to give us the exclusive! If you missed it, watch here!

This 2015/2016 season has seen the MCO perform with Marc-André Hamelin, Colin Carr, Emmanuel Ceysson and guest conductor Alain Trudel. This Wednesday night Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska will grace the stage at Westminster United Church with the chamber orchestra.  And to round out the season, concerts with James Ehnes and singer Isabel Byrakdarian. How do you top that? Somehow the MCO always does!

 

 

Westminster United Church--the MCO's performance venue (Photo by Leif Norman)

 

The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, “Canada’s tiny, perfect chamber orchestra” (Toronto Star), has appeared in concert halls throughout North America and Europe. Known for its original programming, encompassing a broad range of repertoire and diverse commissioning, the MCO has been called “an excellent string ensemble conducted with crispness and verve by Anne Manson” (San Francisco Chronicle). It has been praised for its “satiny sound … dynamic subtlety, and an impeccable sense of ensemble” (Ottawa Citizen). The MCO toured major North American centres with Isabel Bayrakdarian in 2008, garnering three curtain calls at Carnegie Hall; Western Canada with Dame Evelyn Glennie in 2009; Ontario with Michael Riesman in 2011; and Eastern Canada with Isabel Bayrakdarian in 2013.

The MCO explores repertoire rarely touched by symphony orchestras — from the favourites and rare gems of the common practice, the modern, and the postmodern. Established in 1972, the MCO presents an annual 9-concert series in Winnipeg and an extensive program of touring, recording, and outreach. The ‘Fiddlers on the Loose’ ensemble takes live music to remote parts of the province, working with and playing for children, youth and families who face geographic and economic challenges.

In 1995, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra released its first compact disc on Sweden’s BIS label: Canadian Music for Chamber Orchestra marked the first recording by a North American orchestra on the prestigious label, and was distributed in over 45 countries. There have been seven subsequent recordings, four with CBC Records, including Juno-nominated So Much To Tell with Measha Brueggergosman. The MCO’s Orange Mountain Music recording of Philip Glass music was released in 2013 and has enjoyed international acclaim.

In 2013, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra launched MCOrecords with the release of the Juno and Western Canadian Music Award-nominated Troubadour & the Nightingale, featuring soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian.

The Orchestra operates on an annual budget of just under $1 million. The board and management have worked hard to maintain balanced budgeting for the past 19 consecutive years, in addition to building an endowment for the future. The MCO has nearly doubled its budget in the past ten years, for its international touring performances and a growing province-wide youth program.

The MCO toured Italy in 1999, and in 2008 debuted at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and performed for over 7,500 people on Canada Day at Harbourfront in Toronto. Anne Manson was appointed Music Director of the MCO in 2008, succeeding Roy Goodman in the post.