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±Category:Musical groups from Winnipeg→Category:Orchestras in Winnipeg; ±Category:Canadian orchestras→Category:Chamber orchestras using HotCat

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{{Short description|Canadian orchestra}}
{{Infobox orchestra
| name = Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
| image =20140409-IMG 7017.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = [[Anne Manson]] conducting the orchestra in 2014
| short_name = MCO
| founded = 1972
| location = [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]], Canada
| concert_hall =
| principal_conductor = [[Anne Manson]]
| website = {{official URL}}
}}
The '''Manitoba Chamber Orchestra''' ('''MCO''') is a chamber orchestra based in [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]], Canada. It offers an annual subscription series at Westminster United Church, which regularly features Canada's leading soloists, such as [[James Ehnes]] and [[Measha Brueggergosman]], and [[Marc-André Hamelin]]. Other core MCO activities include recording, touring, and engaging extensive outreach in remote communities in northern Manitoba. Currently, [[Anne Manson]] serves as the MCO's Music Director,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.themco.ca/board-and-administration/|title=Board and administration - Manitoba Chamber Orchestra|work=Manitoba Chamber Orchestra|access-date=2017-03-14|language=en-US}}</ref> Karl Stobbe as its Concertmaster, and Vicki Young as its managing director.

==History ==
__FORCETOC__
The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1972 by Ruben Gurevich.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.themco.ca/press/|title=Manitoba Chamber Orchestra / Press kit|work=Manitoba Chamber Orchestra|access-date=2017-03-14|language=en-US}}</ref> Gurevich served as music director and principal conductor until 1981. After a season of guest conductors, English conductor [[Simon Streatfeild]], a founding member of the prestigious London-based chamber orchestra, the [[Academy of St Martin in the Fields|Academy of St. Martin in the Fields]], was appointed music director and principal conductor in 1982.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/manitoba-chamber-orchestra-emc/|title=Manitoba Chamber Orchestra|work=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=2017-03-14|language=en}}</ref> He was succeeded by another English conductor, [[Roy Goodman]] (2000–2005), and then by Anne Manson, who began her tenure in 2008.

In 1984, the MCO assumed the then recently disbanded CBC Winnipeg Orchestra's Candlelight Concerts series, which was broadcast nationally on [[CBC Radio]]. Canadians across the country and fans around the world continue to enjoy the orchestra online and in frequent broadcasts of its recordings.

In 1988, the orchestra represented Manitoba at the [[1988 Winter Olympics|Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta]]. The MCO toured southern Italy in August 1999, and [[British Columbia]] twice: in the spring of 2003, and in the autumn of 2009 together with the celebrated percussion soloist, [[Evelyn Glennie|Dame Evelyn Glennie]]. The MCO toured with Glennie a second time in the fall of 2016, with stops in [[Ontario]] and [[Quebec]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.themco.ca/2016-mco-evelyn-glennie-tour-dates-and-links/|title=MCO Evelyn Glennie Tour - Manitoba Chamber Orchestra|date=2016-09-26|work=Manitoba Chamber Orchestra|access-date=2017-03-14|language=en-US}}</ref>

The MCO accompanied [[k.d. lang]] in her performance of [[Leonard Cohen]]'s "[[Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen song)|Hallelujah]]" at the [[Juno Award]]s in April 2005. In the summer of 2008, it made its debut appearance at the [[National Arts Centre]] in Ottawa. In the autumn of 2008, the orchestra accompanied the Armenian/Canadian soprano [[Isabel Bayrakdarian]] on a tour to San Francisco and [[Orange County, California|Orange County (California)]], [[Vancouver]], [[Toronto]], [[Boston|Boston (Massachusetts)]], and [[New York City|New York]], which culminated in a concert at [[Carnegie Hall]].

In January 2018, the MCO presented the Canadian premiere of [[Philip Glass]]'s third piano concerto. It was performed with American pianist [[Simone Dinnerstein]], and co-commissioned as the inaugural instalment in the MCO's three-year New Concerto Project.

In 1995, the MCO released its first compact disc, on Sweden's [[BIS (label)|BIS]] label. ''Canadian Music for Chamber Orchestra'' marked the first recording by a North American orchestra for the prestigious company. It was distributed in more than 45 countries. There have been eight subsequent CDs, four of them with CBC Records. A new disc recorded with Dame Evelyn Glennie, was released in 2017. The orchestra has received three nominations for JUNO Awards: in 1999 for ''A Britten Serenade''; and in 2005 for ''So much to tell'', which has sold nearly 10 thousand copies, and in 2013 for ''Troubadour and the Nightingale''.

In June 2017, the MCO premiered ''Nanabush and the drum / Nanabozho et le tambour'', a theatrical collaboration with [[Cercle Molière|Théâtre Cercle Molière]]. The bilingual work is based on new music by [[Michael Oesterle]] and a script by [[Rhéal Cenerini]], and explores the relationship between a French ''coureur de bois'', a First Nations woman, and [[Nanabush]], the Anishinaabe trickster figure.

In October 2019, the MCO were named Classical Artist / Ensemble of the Year at the [[Western Canadian Music Awards]]. They were nominated for the same award in 2020. In the same year, the MCO launched MCO at Home – an online music hub presenting new and classic MCO performances – to better stay connected with its audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, the MCO is celebrating their 50th anniversary season, presenting 10 in-person shows and 6 online programs.

== Education and outreach ==
Over the past two decades, the MCO has expanded its core activities to include a variety of outreach and education programs. Among them are Fiddlers on the Loose, which sends six musicians to remote communities in northern Manitoba every year to deliver workshops and concerts;<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.themco.ca/fiddlers-on-the-loose/|title=Fiddlers on the loose! - Manitoba Chamber Orchestra|work=Manitoba Chamber Orchestra|access-date=2017-03-14|language=en-US}}</ref> regular performances at Stony Mountain Penitentiary; the MCO's participation in Artists in Healthcare, which sees MCO-affiliated musicians performing in hospitals throughout Winnipeg, Manitoba; the creation of student concerts and educational listening guides; and donating of concert tickets to underserved communities.

== Guest artists ==
Among the many soloists and ensembles who have appeared with the MCO, or under its auspices, are [[James Ehnes]], [[Jan Lisiecki]], [[Tracy Dahl]], [[Measha Brueggergosman]], [[Andriana Chuchman]], [[Evelyn Glennie|Dame Evelyn Glennie]], [[Marc-André Hamelin]], [[Janina Fialkowska]], [[Angela Hewitt]], [[André Laplante]], [[Liona Boyd]], [[Jon Kimura Parker]], [[Emma Kirkby]], [[Zara Nelsova]], [[Yannick Nézet-Séguin]], [[the Winnipeg Singers]], the university (of Manitoba) Singers, [[the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir]], and local high school choirs. The orchestra also presents regular concerts of small ensemble works, involving either local musicians or such international ensembles as the [[Borodin Quartet|Borodin]], [[Guarneri Quartet|Guarneri]], and [[Tokyo String Quartet]]s, and the [[Beaux Arts Trio]].

The orchestra's repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary. Among the composers the MCO has commissioned are [[Nahre Sol]], Larry Strachan, [[Cris Derksen]], Kevin Lau, [[Christos Hatzis]], [[Jim Hiscott]], [[Serouj Kradjian]], [[Harry Freedman]], [[Jocelyn Morlock]], [[Michael Matthews (composer)|Michael Matthews]], Luke Nickel, [[Heidi Ouellette]], [[John Estacio]], [[Randolph Peters]], Glenn Buhr, Andrew Balfour, [[Stewart Goodyear]], [[Michael Oesterle]], [[Jeffrey Ryan]], Dorothy Chang, [[Heather Schmidt]], [[Karen Sunabacka]], [[Sid Robinovitch]], Alan Heard, [[Alexina Louie]], [[Robert Turner (composer)|Robert Turner]], [[Gary Kulesha]], [[Stephen Chatman]], [[Donald Steven]], Mark Hand, [[Norman Sherman]], and [[Chan Ka Nin]], and [[Malcolm Forsyth]], who called the MCO's premiere of his cantata ''Evangeline'' "one of the supreme moments of my life as an artist, and one I am sure will continue to be so for the rest of my life."

Under founding music director and conductor, Ruben Gurevich, the orchestra established its ongoing practice of presenting many contemporary works, including over 100 Winnipeg premieres in its first five seasons. At the biennial meeting of the Association of Canadian Orchestras in 1990, the MCO was presented with a [[SOCAN]] Award of Merit for "the imaginative programming of contemporary Canadian music."

Violinist Aisslinn Nosky is the current MCO Guest Artist-In-Residence, in which capacity singer Measha Brueggergosman precedes her. Kevin Lau is the MCO Composer in Residence.

==Music directors==
* Ruben Gurevich (1972–1981)
* [[Simon Streatfeild]] (1982–2000)
* [[Roy Goodman]] (2002–2005)
* [[Anne Manson]] (2008–present)

== Discography ==
*'''Cello Concerto''' [[Anne Manson]], conductor Ariel Barnes, percussion MCO Records (2019)
*'''Mirage? Concertos for Percussion''' [[Anne Manson]], conductor [[Evelyn Glennie|Dame Evelyn Glennie]], percussion MCO Records (2018)
*'''Troubadour and the Nightingale''' [[Anne Manson]], conductor [[Isabel Bayrakdarian]], soprano MCO Records (2013)
* '''Philip Glass''<nowiki/>''''' Symphony No. 3; Suite from ''The Hours'' [[Anne Manson]], conductor [[Michael Riesman]], piano Orange Mountain Music omm 0084 (2013)
* '''So Much to Tell''' [[Roy Goodman]], conductor [[Measha Brueggergosman]], soprano [[CBC Records]] SMCD5234
* '''Sea Sketches''' [[Roy Goodman]], conductor [[CBC Records]] SMCD5227
* '''Gerald Finzi: Meditation''' [[Simon Streatfeild]], conductor Valdine Anderson, soprano [[Russell Braun]], baritone James Campbell, clarinet [[CBC Records]] SMCD5204
* '''A Britten Serenade''' [[Simon Streatfeild]], conductor Benjamin Butterfield, tenor Henriette Schellenberg, soprano [[James Sommerville]], French horn [[CBC Records]] SMCD5187
* '''25th Anniversary Limited Edition Live Recording''' [[Simon Streatfeild]], conductor Independent 1997
* '''Canadian Music for Chamber Orchestra''' [[Simon Streatfeild]], conductor David Stewart, violin Vincent Ellin, bassoon [[BIS Records]] CD698

==See also==
* [[Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091128003049/http://www.manitobachamberorchestra.org/mcoinfo.html Manitoba Chamber Orchestra page, "A brief history of the MCO"]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050314162734/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0002186 Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, entry on the MCO]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Orchestras in Winnipeg]]
[[Category:Chamber orchestras]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1972]]
[[Category:1972 establishments in Manitoba]]

Manitoba Chamber Orchestra - Revision history

imported>EIGHTCLOUDS: ±Category:Musical groups from Winnipeg→Category:Orchestras in Winnipeg; ±Category:Canadian orchestras→Category:Chamber orchestras using HotCat