WINNIPEG, MB. – It has been 17 years since Keri-Lyn Wilson last appeared with her hometown orchestra. The international Opera Maestra is returning to Winnipeg for a special performance January 12 and 13.

Keri-Lynn will take the reins in a performance of Mozart’s Fifth and final Violin Concerto, Nielsen’s Third Symphony, and a new work by Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Composer-in-Residence Harry Stafylakis at the Centennial Concert Hall.

Wilson, an international conductor, has lead opera companies and orchestras in Vienna, Stockholm, Hanover, Leipzig, Munich, Florence, Rome, Palermo, Warsaw, Moscow, Bilbao, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Bucharest, Ljubljana, Zagreb, and across North America.

She’ll lead the orchestra in Mozart’s delightful Fifth Violin Concerto is delightful in the bright key of A major, interpreted by the Canadian virtuoso Alexandre Da Costa on the Devault Stradivarius – the perfect way to open the new year.

Harry Stafylakis’ “dreamy yet rhythmic” (NY Times) style is one reason he was chosen WSO Composer-in-Residence. Expect a dramatic and emotional work in this world-premiere performance of his Holocene Extinction.

Between the breadth of Mahler and the purity of Sibelius is the unique world of Nielsen, articulated in six splendid symphonies. His Third, subtitled the Sinfonia espansiva, opens with a Tchaikovsky like waltz before moving to a tranquil Second movement that wordlessly melds soprano and tenor in a hymn to man and nature.

David Marshal, Manitoba Post with files from the WSO

Photo supplied by WSO