Neil Weisensel’s latest commission from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is over thirty years in the making. It goes back to an interaction that he had with celebrated Romanian writer George Astaloș in Paris.
“He had an opera script or a libretto called Coup de Sifflet – A Blow of the Whistle – basically about the rise and fall of a dictator,” Weisensel recalled in an interview on Morning Light.
Fast forward to 2026, and that source material combined with many compositional forays into it over the last three decades have formed “Centuries of Hope – Variations + Theme”. The piece will make its world debut in a concert called Beyond Horizons, the fourth in this year’s Winnipeg New Music Festival.
Weisensel notes that the music’s message of hope in the face of tyranny and oppression still very much ring true all of these years later. “The dictators that are around today, they’re nothing special,” he says. “We’ve seen these people before in various guises. They’re like some sort of nasty archetype… but the people have always risen up and have always managed to triumph. It just takes time. So, I went back to this music I’d created, and I took some thematic material and some building blocks, and I just got to work.”
Listen to an excerpt here:
“Centuries of Hope – Variations + Theme” will be featured alongside two other Canadian premieres – “Hidden Sun Rises” by Chelsea Komschlies and “A Thousand Cranes” by the Winnipeg New Music Festival’s distinguished guest composer Christopher Theofanidis – and “TZAM” by Mexico City’s Gabriela Ortiz. Like Weisensel’s work, Ortiz takes a hard look at humanity’s place within the earth and the responsibilities we have to each other.
“The music speaks to us on a deeper level than words can,” says Weisensel. “That’s why we do what we do.”
“Dictators are always afraid of the artists,” he continues, “because they know the artists are the most dangerous because they’re the ones that can inspire the people to change things. And ultimately, the people are the only group that can change things.
This message about the power of art is something that Weisensel and the other composers involved in the Winnipeg New Music Festival have been discussing amongst themselves and impressing on the emerging composers participating in the Michael Nesbitt Composers Institute. “I said, ‘Do not downplay at all your importance as an artist,’” Weisensel shares about his conversations with the emerging composers. “’You are absolutely crucial to this societal ecosystem that we have. Your voice is important. You need to use your art for good.’”
Beyond Horizons will be shared at the Centennial Concert Hall on January 27. Tickets and more information can be found at the Winnipeg New Music Festival’s website.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source classic107.com ’
