Wrapping Up a Musical Winter Term at Sistema Winnipeg
- News
December 19, 2025
Sistema Winnipeg held its first concert of the 2025/26 school year with the Tannis M. Richardson Winter Concert, celebrating the students and staff who make up the program. The concert is named in honour of Tannis M. Richardson, whose groundbreaking gift, jointly established with Michael Nozick, launched an endowment fund for Sistema Winnipeg.
Led by Sistema Music Director Monica Chen, students shared a wide range of musical moments as they welcomed the winter break.
Sistema Winnipeg at the Tannis M. Richardson Winter Concert 2025. Photo by Matt Duboff.
Héctor J. Pinzón-Arroyo, Manager of Sistema Winnipeg. Photo by Matt Duboff.
All ensembles within Sistema Winnipeg had the opportunity to shine on stage. The youngest musicians in the Vivaldi Orchestra performed the Sistema Winnipeg classic The Orchestra Song, singing and playing about the different instrument families of the orchestra. They also delighted audiences with a performance of energetic Baby Shark.
The Mozart Orchestra showcased their growing skills with performances of Caryn Wiegand Neidhardt’s gentle Snow Suite and Chris Thomas’s spirited Jolly Jingle. The Beethoven Orchestra dazzled with Yukiko Nishimura’s lyrical Under a Winter Sky and Sean O’Loughlin’s dynamic Undercurrents.
Mozart Orchestra Cellos. Photo by Matt Duboff.
Monica Chen, Sistema Music Director. Photo by Matt Duboff.
The program concluded with the eldest participants in the Dvořák Orchestra, joined by the Sistema Winnipeg Choir and Teachers’ Ensemble, performing John Williams’ tender Somewhere in My Memory.
Dvořák Orchestra, Sistema Winnipeg Choir, and Teachers’ Ensemble perform John Williams’ tender Somewhere in My Memory. Photo by Matt Duboff.
Sistema Winnipeg is a partnership between the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO), Seven Oaks School Division (SOSD), and Winnipeg School Division (WSD). Sistema Winnipeg engages with youth in grades 1 to 12 at two main school locations: Elwick Community School (SOSD) and King Edward Community School (WSD). Programming includes general music, instrumental sectionals, full orchestra and choir rehearsals, and other activities for violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, clarinet, French horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba.
Sistema Winnipeg is fully dependent on the support of our generous donors and partners to fund the program. If you would like to donate to Sistema, please click HERE.
Do you have an unused instrument at home and want to share the music with a student in need? Sistema Winnipeg needs ½ & 3/4 size Violins, 11” & 12” Violas and 1/2 Cellos. We also accept donations of other instruments. Click HERE to learn how you can donate your instrument today.
