This weekend the WSO will be answering the age old question, “what is it about certain pieces of music that stay with you?” This Saturday, February 12th at 7:30pm, and on Sunday, February 13th at 2:00 pm the WSO will be presenting “Unforgettable Classical Favorites.” The orchestra will be performing musical masterpieces from the ballet and opera stages, as well as the ballroom. There will be music of Dvorak, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and various highlights from the masters of the Viennese waltz tradition the Strauss family.
One of the other highlights of the concert is, that it will feature award winning, Winnipeg soprano Andrea Lett, performing excerpts from the opera literature.
As has been the case for every arts organization during the pandemic, original plans and programs have had to evolve due to the ever changing situation that we find ourselves in. The concert this weekend replaces the originally programmed concert called “Li Keur, Riel’s Heart of the North.” This change in programming has been nothing new for the Orchestra. As Associate Conductor of the WSO Julian Pellicano states, “To be honest we’ve become so good at changing programs and finding some new alternatives…I think that we felt certain that even if things were to fall through, we’d be able to land on our feet.”
For Pellicano this weekend’s concert is full of his own personal favorites. “These are pieces that I mostly chose…I feel kind of selfish for this, it’s called ‘Unforgettable Classical Favorites,’ but it just turns out that a lot of these pieces are my favorites.”
If a concert is full of musical gems, such as Johann Strauss Jr’s “The Blue Danube Waltz,” selections from Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, the Waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Verdi’s Overture to Nabucco, etc. than Maestro Pellicano can be “selfish” all he wants!
“Unforgettable Classical Favorites” is sure be a fully entertaining, and engaging concert that will send you home singing or whistling some of your favorite tunes.
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, will be following all COVID Protocols for this concert.