The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is proud to announce its 2011-2012 season, chock-full of connoisseurs in the classical and pop worlds. With an impressive line-up – both in programmes and guest artists – the 2011-2012 season is guaranteed to charm, inspire and provide concert-goers with profound musical experiences from September to May.

“There are so many musical geniuses and enchanting concert programs to celebrate and enjoy,” says WSO Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate. “This season will be so inspiring for every kind of music-lover and deserves to be savoured and indulged in. The musical gratification will be undeniable.”

The WSO will be presenting a multitude of international soloists and conductors who will make up one of the best WSO seasons yet, with seven unique concert series, 33 concert programs and 57 concert dates. Back by popular demand are the Matinée (four Friday morning concerts) and Soundbytes (perfect for first-time symphony-goer or seasoned symphony lover) series as well as Dinner and a Symphony (worldly food perfectly paired with the evening’s concert).

Season highlights:

• Opening night with Grammy nominated and Emmy Award winning pianist Horacio Gutierrez, September 23-24;
• The music of Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the 20^th century’s greatest composers, will be featured for a rare performance with his son, Maxim Shostakovich conducting, October 28-29;
• Dawn Upshaw, worldwide celebrity soprano, performs a special program of music very close to her, including Three Songs, written specifically for Upshaw, March 23-24;
• Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, an overwhelming experience and unforgettable journey, May 4-5;
• Jon Kimura Parker, internationally-acclaimed Canadian pianist plays Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2, March 2-3
• A multi-media presentation of Dvorak’s New World Symphony – Beyond the Score® will provide the perfect way of getting inside a piece of music, February 25;
• Buster Keaton’s The General, with the score performed live by the WSO, April 28;
• Tony Award winning Len Cariou in the world premiere of Send in the Clowns: The Music of Stephen Sondheim Starring Len Cariou, a program the WSO has put together with Dry Cold Productions, November 4-6;
• Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland, returns for A Judy Garland Christmas: Songs My Mother Taught Me, December 9-11;
• Original members of Grammy Award winning The Manhattan Transfer, April 13-15.

If you ever enjoyed A Prairie Boy’s Winter as a child, or admired the covers of W.O. Mitchell’s book Who Has Seen the Wind, you’ll be familiar with the work of William Kurelek. A stunning exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, running from September 30 to December 31, brings together over 80 of Kurelek’s works spanning three decades. Widely recognized as a painter of childhood reminiscences and prairie fields, Kurelek conjures a sense of a timeless and innocent past. His childhood in Stonewall, Manitoba as the son of Ukrainian immigrants gave him the understanding of being an “outsider” and he chronicled the experiences of various cultural groups in Canada, devoting entire series to Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Irish, French-Canadian, and Inuit peoples. But there is another Kurelek—the tortured man who spent two years in mental hospitals, the anguished prophet of a modern apocalypse whose art questions the values of a secular age. Kurelek was at his best and most challenging when he successfully bridged the pastoral and the prophetic, combining memory and message. It is out of this fundamental duality, around which this exhibition has been conceived, that the artist’s richness emerges.

WAG visitors can enhance their Kurelek experience with exhibition tours on selected weekends. On October 20 and December 15 we are offering Art Eats, a special event of a dinner at Storm, our penthouse restaurant, followed by a tour of the exhibition.  There will also be talks by the exhibition curators and WAG art educators, as well as the Canadian premiere William Kurelek’s The Maze, an iconic documentary film about Kurelek and his art.

Also at the WAG

• Precise: Craft and Process • September 10-January 15 • This exhibition brings together five contemporary artists who integrate wool, thread, clay, silver, and industrial metals into works of art that go far beyond the idea of “craft.”
• Feast • October 29-March 25 • A tantalizing exhibition featuring a smorgasbord of art that explores a variety of fascinating issues and ideas surrounding food and the daily act of eating.
• Jazz under the Rooftop • Winnipeg’s hottest jazz musicians in concert on October 8 and November 19.
• Gallery Shop • Unique jewelry, glass ware, ceramics, and fabric art handcrafted by Canadian artists.
• Storm Bistro • Located on the penthouse level overlooking the rooftop sculpture garden.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery offers many experiences to make your visit an unforgettable one. We hope you will visit soon! For details visit our website at www.wag.ca.

Broadway and its stately elms were the backdrop for a fantastic weekend in 2010 and the trees will once again be shining bright as last year’s Lights on Broadway becomes part of the Downtown Winnipeg Biz’s ManyFest. Running September 9-11, ManyFest is a community celebration of people, arts, entertainment and active living set under 100 artfully lit elms on Broadway in the heart of downtown Winnipeg.

The weekend’s events include the Giant Movie in the Park on Friday, September 9 as a giant outdoor screen is set up in Memorial Park. As the sun sets on Saturday, September 10, stroll beneath the glowing canopy of artfully lit trees and make your way to the Big Dance Party – two stages offering various kinds of music will get you jiving, grooving and swinging under the lights.

The Broadway Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market runs Saturday from 4pm-11pm and Sunday 11am-8pm. Browse through the dozens of vendors, selling everything from homemade jewellery to fresh produce. At the same time, the Kids’ Zone will be bouncing with a petting zoo, clowns, giant sand boxes, inflatable slides, crafts and much more.

Ciclovia, the annual eco-friendly celebration of all things active, hits downtown Winnipeg on Sunday, September 11. Walk, jog or cycle from Assiniboine Park to The Forks, with a stop on Broadway to enjoy the farmers’ market, music, fitness demos and more. Sunday is also the date of Winnipeg 10+10 Race – where runners can enjoy the scenic route of a 10 km or 10 mile run that starts and ends at Memorial Park.

ManyFest will also feature the Taste of Downtown Winnipeg Wine & Cheese Festival, which runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sip cabernets and chardonnays as tasting tickets are only $1.00 each.

Check out all the details at www.manyfest.ca.

If you took in a summer festival or event, chances are Manitoba Lotteries was there too! Now that the cooler temperatures are bringing people indoors, you will see them continue their support of our province’s vibrant arts scene. This fall, they are a proud partner of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Prairie Theatre Exchange and the rural tour of the Manitoba Theatre Centre. Manitoba Lotteries recognizes how much the arts enrich our communities, and this season brings so much to enjoy!

This season Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet shows of its range, as well as its new principle dancers as the troupe performs some of ballet’s most-loved classics as well as two world premieres.

RWB opens with the world premiere of Svengali, October 19-23. Creative genius Mark Godden brings the psychological drama of mind control to the stage, taking inspiration from a film treatment from international film sensation Guy Maddin.

The holiday classic the Nutcracker returns to the stage December 23 and 28 and is followed by another classic, Giselle, March 7-11. The beautiful and haunting masterpiece of heartbreak and revenge is timeless classic updated with elegant new sets and costumes.

The final offering of the season if Pure Ballet, May 9-13 a collection of four short pieces, including the world premiere of The Doorway – Scenes from Leonard Cohen, by Jorden Morris, creator of the RWB’s hit Moulin Rouge ® - The Ballet. The series of dance vignettes set to the songs and poems of legend Leonard Cohen explore the emotional journey of love and longing.

The Manitoba Theatre Centre is offering a dynamic line-up of hits this season at the John Hirsh Mainstage. Opening with Grumpy Old Men: The Musical, October 13-Nomveber 5, the charming movie is easily translated to the stage as a poignant and laugh-out-loud musical. Next up is Romeo and Juliet, November 24-December 17, re-envisioned in the imagined Verona of present-day Jerusalem. Muslim Capulets, Jewish Montagues and Christian friars bring this Shakespearian love story to a heightened relevancy.

Shirley Valentine, January 5-28, sees Nicola Cavendish return to MTC to reprise her role in a heartwarming and inspiring play that speaks to anyone who has ever wanted more. The Manitoba story about winning the vote for women in The Fighting Days, February 9-March 3, will leave you looking at this volatile time in a whole new way. The Tony and Olivier-Award winning play, God of Carnage, March 17-April 7, knocks down the façade of politeness and suburban decorum and asks what we have sacrificed to in the mould. The season closes with Next to Normal, April 19-May 12, a Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize winning “feel everything” musical that looks at a family struggling to cope with mental illness.

MTC’s Tom Hendry Warehouse is offering up an exciting season that starts with In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play, November 3-19, a provocative and funny look at a newfangled electrical device to cure female hysteria during the Victorian age. Mrs. Warren’s Profession, January 19-February 4, is part of the 12^th Annual Master Playwright Festival featuring the works of George Bernard Shaw. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Autust: Osage County, March 8-24, follows the tragically funny story of a family reuniting in a time of crisis. Blind Date, April 5-21 is a flirty and funny combination of improvisation, theatre and social experiment.

The Prairie Theatre Exchange’s 2011-2012 season brings familiar characters and stories from some of Canada’s best playwrights to the stage. Meet friends for a drink before the show or catch up afterwards in the renovated lobby.

The season opens with Bingo!, October 13-30, a bittersweet comedy of an old group of friends at their 30^th high school reunion. Catch the world premiere of The Secret Mask, November 17-December 4, a heart warming story of a father and son, aiming to get even and reconciling instead. Another holiday season brings another madcap presentation of the stories of Robert Munsch in The Three Munschketeers, December 21- January 4. Lost: A Memoir, January 19-February 5, is a visually stunning true story rooted in Winnipeg of a woman searching for her brother lost at sea. The 2010 Fringe Festival hit, Altar Boyz, February 23-March 11, gets a reprise on the PTE stage as this off-Broadway spoof shows that boy bands do have souls. Till it Hurts, March 29-April 15, is a smart satire that raises the question of the true meaning of a “life well-lived.”

In its 39^th season, the Manitoba Opera features two operas Manitoba audiences haven’t seen in over a generation plus the first time the company performs a baroque opera.

Salome, November 19, 22 and 25, is a powerful achievement of music theatre in the 20^th century. Set to a beautiful score by Richard Strauss, this biblical story of a princess gone mad and the price of obsession still has the power to shock – more than 100 years after its debut.

Presented with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, In Concert: Dido and Aeneas, February 7-8, this semi-stage production is based on the love story from Virgil’s Aeneid.  Set to the English baroque music of Henry Purcell, the Dido’s lament “When I am laid in earth” has been called one of the greatest arias in the history of music.

The comical opera The Daughter of the Regiment, April 21, 24 and 27, mixes together a large helping of esprit de corps, a dash of slapstick, some catchy melodies, two handfuls of high Cs and one energetic tomboy who yearns for love over duty. The production features Mary Walsh, best known her for work on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes, in the speaking role of The Duchess of Krakenthorp in her first appearance on an opera stage.