On Tuesday, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra will launch its 42nd season with Juno award-winning Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin. At the helm will be the internatioanlly acclaimed conductor and MCO's own music director, Anne Manson.
Together, they will be Sarah Jo Kirch's guests Monday afternoon in the 4 o'clock hour of the show.
Recognized internationally for her work in the baroque repertoire, Karina Gauvin also sings Bach, Mahler, Britten, and music of the 20th and 21st centuries with equal success. However, she is most often associated with one composer in particular: George Frideric Handel.
At Tuesday night's concert Gauvin will sing arias from two of his early operas: Alcina and Giulio Cesare. Anne Manson describes Gauvin as “one of the greatest interpreters of Handel of our day.”
Anne Manson, praised by The New York Times for conducting of “balance, clarity and richness,” is notable for her mastery of a wide range of opera and orchestral repertoire, from new works by living composers such as Philip Glass, Peter Maxwell Davies and John Harbison, to fresh interpretations of canonic works. She was the first woman to conduct at the Salzburg Festival, where she led Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov with the Vienna Philharmonic. She is one of only three women to have been appointed Music Director of a leading American symphony orchestra, having served as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony from 1999 to 2003. And she has guest conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra
On Tuesday night, MCO audiences will also will also hear Mozart’s Divertimento and a contemporary work by composer Pierre Jalbert.
‘Autumn Rhapsody’
One of the works nestled between glorious Handel arias is Autumn Rhapsody by the American composer Pierre Jalbert. Jalbert’s inspiration for the piece was “the autumn landscape in Vermont, when the trees present a multi-colored tapestry, and the wind begins to blow colder …”
Tune in to Sarah Jo Kirch Monday afternoon between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM. You may even win tickets to Tuesday night's MCO season premiere.
The concert begins at 7:30 pm on September 16th in Westminster United Church, 745 Westminster at Maryland. Tickets are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors and $10 for students, including GST, at McNally Robinson, the West End Cultural Centre (586 Ellice at Sherbrook), Organic Planet (877 Westminster Ave) or MCO’s Ticketline (204.783.7377).