The question of Canadian orchestral music\u2019s future may not keep a lot of people up at night. But perhaps that indifference itself hints at a future that can\u2019t be taken for granted.<\/p>\n
When the Winnipeg New Music Festival \u2014 one of Canada\u2019s premier platforms for emerging and established Canadian composers, which ran this year from Jan. 21 to 29 \u2014 shows signs of struggling, perhaps more Winnipeggers should be kept awake at night.<\/p>\n
The past 18 years of Free Press<\/em> reviews suggests a gradual decline in attendance to the flagship festival presented by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. In 2008, attendance at individual concerts at the Centennial Concert Hall was 1,500 and 1,310; 2017 saw those numbers drop to 1,000 and 1,133. In 2023, the single show reviewed had a head count of 639. This year, the two reviewed concerts at the concert hall drew audiences of 454 and 474, less than a quarter of the venue\u2019s 2,300-seat capacity.<\/p>\n Matt Duboff photo<\/p>\n Audiences at the New Music Festival have been getting smaller and smaller over the years.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Angela Birdsell, the WSO\u2019s executive director, is nothing if not candid about the hurdles contemporary Canadian music faces today, even though she\u2019s very proud of the festival.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing 600 or 700 people in a hall for a new music concert is still pretty damn good. We do (the festival) even when we can\u2019t really afford to because we believe it\u2019s important,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a bustling few weeks for the WSO.<\/p>\n Last week the Centennial Concert Hall was filled to the rafters with cheering fans for Brawl at the Hall. As local Winnipeg Professional Wrestling stars Chad Daniels, Jody Threat and others swapped piledrivers and chokeholds, the orchestra bellowed classical megahits.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably one of the best events we\u2019ve ever done. The orchestra wasn\u2019t the star, the wrestlers weren\u2019t the star, the crowd was the star. The crowd was chanting, \u2018Tuba, tuba, tuba!\u2019\u201d says Birdsell.<\/p>\n On Saturday, a full house of Winnipeggers revelled in the WSO\u2019s Murdoch Mysteries in Concert<\/em>, a live experience of the Canadian detective TV show featuring composer Rob Carli\u2019s score.<\/p>\n Successes like these show there\u2019s an appetite here not just for classical music, but for Canadian-centric creations, on the concert hall\u2019s stage.<\/p>\n So why does the Winnipeg New Music Festival struggle, comparatively, to fill the hall?<\/p>\n Birdsell points out that almost every year still has its blockbuster concerts with famous guest artists attracting fuller audiences, and that attendance is also limited by seating, with the WSO often opting in recent years for smaller venues. (This year\u2019s fest included several sold-out shows at the Desaultels Concert Hall, which seats about 400.)<\/p>\n She suggests there are other challenges, too.<\/p>\n \u201cOne aspect of the festival from the past, that we haven\u2019t reintegrated since the pandemic, are partnerships with the visual arts community,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to say how much that drove ticket sales, but it would have definitely contributed to getting the word out.\u201d<\/p>\n RUTH BONNEVILLE \/ WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files<\/p>\n Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra executive director Angela Birdsell believes the festival is important, even if it doesn\u2019t fill seats the way it used to.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n She goes on to highlight that in the festival\u2019s early years it enjoyed a large-scale corporate sponsorship with DuMaurier. Festivals of this size need sizable marketing funds and this sponsorship supported that.<\/p>\n \u201cToday we market through print, radio, TV, web and many social media platforms. As we know, it is more difficult to ensure comprehensive market penetration, despite the increased cost and workload related to reaching a multi-channel universe,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n A common complaint about modern and contemporary classical music, often invoked to explain its struggles to attract audiences, is that it\u2019s too dissonant or atonal.<\/p>\n Looking back on the past decade of festivals co-curated by WSO\u2019s composer-in-residence Harry Stafylakis (who is completing his final season with the WSO), known for mixing rock sounds and orchestra, it would be difficult to describe the offerings as inaccessible.<\/p>\n Birdsell is heartened to see more young composers today open to influences from world and popular music, a trend reflected in this year\u2019s programming with pieces such as Lisa Pegher\u2019s pulsing electronic Fate Amenable to Grace<\/em> and Christopher Theofanidis\u2019s neo-romantic Rainbow Body<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe joyful composers I see among young people are the ones that are trying all kinds of different stuff,\u201d Birdsell says.<\/p>\n But Birdsell suggests that while new media have opened contemporary composers to a brave new world of sound and images, this comes with a price.<\/p>\n The dizzying experience that this freedom creates, where new content comes at us overwhelming rate is and quickly tossed away, may rob us of patience, seriousness or an openness to depth.<\/p>\n \u201cAre we getting to the point where people simply aren\u2019t able to shut down the other sensory parts of themselves and just listen? If we orchestras jump on the 15-second (TikTok song) bandwagon, are we just perpetuating the problem?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n In this light, composers for television, film and video games may have a professional advantage over composers for live orchestra. For better or worse, they\u2019re enmeshed in the mediums of pop culture.<\/p>\n Matt Duboff photo<\/p>\n Percussionist Lisa Pegher performs at the 2026 fest.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Yet whether it\u2019s in giving young composers a chance to cut their teeth before venturing into these more commercial fields, or in celebrating Canadian music for its own sake, there\u2019s still nothing quite like the new music fest, which remains one of North America\u2019s only festivals of new orchestral music.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still very risky thing, but I think we need it \u2026 (however), we\u2019d like to have more of a festival vibe,\u201d Birdsell says.<\/p>\n She adds that for future fests the WSO will \u201cwork towards balancing off bolstering attendance with the expressed desire of our patrons for the immersive kind of experience they appreciate.\u201d<\/p>\n With most concerts still happening at the Centennial Concert Hall (Canada\u2019s largest orchestral venue in one of its smaller capital cities), Birdsell also suggests that it\u2019s no longer the right venue for the WSO.<\/p>\n The WSO plans to move into the smaller Pantages Playhouse next door by 2029. As of last June, $15 million had been raised by the WSO and the Performing Arts Consortium (Pantages\u2019 owners) to convert it into a modernized 1,100-seat venue.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we get into our new venue, we\u2019ll have more opportunities to create different spots and places, little concerts here and there, and more immersive experiences,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/conradsweatman<\/p>\n Conrad Sweatman<\/strong> Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press<\/em> full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for\u00a0outlets including The Walrus<\/em>, VICE<\/em> and Prairie Fire<\/em>. Read more about Conrad.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n
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