{"id":2251274,"date":"2026-01-26T16:31:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2251274"},"modified":"2026-01-26T16:31:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:31:53","slug":"centuries-of-hope-takes-on-oppressive-forces-at-winnipeg-new-music-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/centuries-of-hope-takes-on-oppressive-forces-at-winnipeg-new-music-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Centuries of Hope&#8217; takes on oppressive forces at Winnipeg New Music Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>      <!-- Body --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Neil Weisensel<\/strong>\u2019s latest commission from the <strong>Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra<\/strong> is over thirty years in the making.\u00a0It goes back to an interaction that he had with celebrated Romanian writer <strong>George\u00a0Astalo\u0219<\/strong>\u00a0in Paris.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had an opera script or a libretto called <strong><em>Coup de Sifflet<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 <em><strong>A Blow of the Whistle<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 basically about the rise and fall of a dictator,\u201d Weisensel recalled in an interview on <em>Morning Light<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to 2026, and that source material combined with many compositional forays into it over the last three decades have formed <strong>\u201cCenturies of Hope \u2013 Variations + Theme\u201d<\/strong>. The piece will make its world debut in a concert called <em><strong>Beyond Horizons<\/strong><\/em>, the fourth in this year&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Winnipeg New Music\u00a0Festival<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Weisensel notes that the music\u2019s message of hope in the face of tyranny and oppression still\u00a0very much ring true\u00a0all of\u00a0these years later.\u00a0\u201cThe dictators that are around\u00a0today,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0nothing special,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve\u00a0seen these people before in various guises.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0like some sort of nasty\u00a0archetype&#8230; but the people have always\u00a0risen up\u00a0and have always managed to triumph. It just takes time.\u00a0So,\u00a0I\u00a0went back to this music\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0created, and I took some thematic material and some building blocks, and I just got to work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 lang=\"EN-US\">Listen to an excerpt here:<\/h3>\n<p><!-- Audio player inserted without disturbing other content --><\/p>\n<div class=\"audio-player\">\n<audio controls=\"\"><source src=\"https:\/\/golden-west-content.s3.amazonaws.com\/2026-01\/Centuries_of_Hope_Excerpt_NW%20EDIT.wav\" type=\"audio\/wav\"\/>Your browser does not support the audio element.<\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCenturies of Hope \u2013 Variations + Theme\u201d will\u00a0be featured alongside two other Canadian premieres \u2013\u00a0<strong>&#8220;Hidden Sun Rises\u201d<\/strong> by <strong>Chelsea\u00a0Komschlies<\/strong>\u00a0and <strong>\u201cA Thousand Cranes\u201d<\/strong> by the Winnipeg New Music Festival\u2019s distinguished guest composer <strong>Christopher Theofanidis<\/strong> \u2013 and<strong>\u00a0\u201cTZAM\u201d<\/strong> by Mexico City\u2019s <strong>Gabriela Ortiz<\/strong>. Like Weisensel\u2019s work, Ortiz takes a hard look at humanity\u2019s place within the earth and the responsibilities we have to each other.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe music speaks to us on a deeper level than words can,\u201d says Weisensel. \u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0why we do what we do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDictators are always afraid of the artists,\u201d he continues, \u201cbecause they know the artists are the most dangerous because\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0the ones that can inspire the people to change things.\u00a0And ultimately, the\u00a0people are the only group that can change things.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DTiZ8g2EgiO\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"><p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0participating\u00a0in the <strong>Michael Nesbitt Composers Institute<\/strong>. \u201cI said, \u2018Do not downplay at all your importance as an artist,\u2019\u201d Weisensel shares about his conversations with the emerging composers. \u201c\u2019You are\u00a0absolutely crucial\u00a0to this societal ecosystem that we have. Your voice is important. You need to use your art for good.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Beyond Horizons<\/em> will be shared at the Centennial Concert Hall on January 27. Tickets and more information <strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wnmf.ca\/wnmf-3-beyond-horizons-2026\/\">can be found at the Winnipeg New Music Festival\u2019s website<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>      <!-- Audio --><\/p>\n<p>      <!-- Video --><\/p>\n<p>      <!-- Gallery --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source classic107.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neil Weisensel\u2019s latest commission from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is over thirty years in the making.\u00a0It goes back to an interaction that he had with celebrated Romanian writer George\u00a0Astalo\u0219\u00a0in Paris.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHe had an opera script or a libretto called Coup de Sifflet \u2013 A Blow of the Whistle \u2013 basically about the rise and fall [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2251275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Centuries-of-Hope-takes-on-oppressive-forces-at-Winnipeg-New.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2251276,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251274\/revisions\/2251276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2251275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}