Message from the Music Director

“As we look ahead to the 2025/26 season, I do so with both excitement and a deep sense of responsibility. I am delighted that the WSO will welcome back some truly exceptional artists who have become dear friends of the orchestra and our audiences, including Alexei Volodin, Bryan Cheng, Stewart Goodyear, and Nodoka Okisawa. At the same time, we are introducing new names who will, without a doubt, bring great enthusiasm along with their world-class artistry: Alexandra Conunova, Kevin Zhu, Rune Bergmann, Robert Moody, and Boris Allakhverdyan.

I mentioned responsibility earlier, and indeed today more than ever, we artists feel called to infuse the daily lives around us with hope and light. Beethoven once said, “music can change the world,” and 250 years later Bono, the iconic lead singer of U2, took it further: “music can change the world because it can change people.” I believe deeply that music must change people and the world we live in.

To do so, we turn to the power of music by universally loved composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Grieg, Sibelius, Nielsen, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Khachaturian, and Bernstein.

We also proudly shine a light on Canadian composers with performances of works by Samy Moussa, Vincent Ho, and Harry Stafylakis, the WSO’s Composer-in-Residence, whose Third Symphony will receive its world premiere during WNMF 2026. I am also thrilled to welcome one of today’s leading North American composers, Christopher Theofanidis, as WNMF’s Distinguished Guest Composer for next year’s festival.

One project I would like to share with special joy: over the past seven seasons, I have often performed alongside exceptionally talented young musicians from Winnipeg, some of whom are children of our own WSO players. In March 2026, I will proudly share the stage with my son, Ilia, as soloist in The Tyrant’s Crush, a concerto for drum-set and orchestra by Stewart Copeland—the legendary drummer of The Police and a prolific composer of symphonic works and opera. Stewart Copeland will also join us for one of our Live at the WSO programs, The Police Deranged, a symphonic tribute to the legendary UK rock band whose songs I grew up with and still listen to with great pleasure.”

Daniel Raiskin
WSO Music Director

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