UnTuxed | Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70

This Rehearsal is being presented as a Relaxed Experience.

Relaxed Experiences are designed to make artistic spaces more welcoming and comfortable for neuro-diverse audience members, anyone on the autism spectrum, and people with sensory and/or communication disorders or learning disabilities. However, everyone can enjoy and benefit from the relaxed concert environment, including parents with babies and toddlers, individuals with Tourette’s syndrome, anyone who experiences anxiety, and folks who would simply like a more relaxed, easygoing atmosphere when attending a concert!

The WSO would like to acknowledge the support of our volunteers, Prelude Music, Canadian Mennonite University, and our Share the Music program for their support of this endeavor.

Listening Guide

Venue Guide

Daniel Raiskin, conductor
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Known for cultivating a broad repertoire and looking beyond the mainstream for his strikingly conceived programmes, Daniel Raiskin has been the music director for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra since the 2018/19 season.

Daniel grew up in St. Petersburg, the son of a prominent musicologist, where he attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city. He continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg, first focusing on the viola but was later inspired to take up the conductor’s baton.  He studied with maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson and Jorma Panula.

Along with the WSO, Daniel was appointed Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in 2020/21, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra in 2016/17.

Some recent and upcoming guest engagements include the Warsaw and Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestras, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Russian National Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra (Hague Philharmonic, NL), Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.

During the 2021/22 season, Daniel took the Slovak Philharmonic and participated in a successful residency at at InClassica Festival in Dubai where they shared the stage with Rudolf Buchbinder, Gil Shaham, Daniel Hope and Andreas Ottensamer. The Philharmonic also toured Germany and Austria this past spring (2022) under Daniel’s leadership.

MASTERWORKS written by James Manishen

Antonín Dvořák
b. Bohemia / September 8, 1841
d. Prague / May 1, 1904
Composed: 1884-85
First performance: April 22, 1885 (London) conducted by the composer

After attending the premiere of Brahms’s Third Symphony on December 2, 1883, Dvořák called his friend’s work “the greatest symphony of its time.’’ Dvořák had appreciated Brahms’s encouragement and consider him a benefactor, especially since Brahms had also convinced the publisher Simrock to take on the young Czech composer’s music.

Of his own next symphony, Dvořák vowed that it “must be something respectable for I don’t want to let Brahms down.’’ Less than two weeks after the Brahms premiere, Dvořák lost his mother and his next symphony would prove to reflect that as no less an emotional seed.

Dvořák met fame conducting in England in the spring of 1884. On June 13 he was elected an honorary member of the Philharmonic Society and was asked to supply a new symphony. By December he was hard at work in the new D-minor Symphony. The London premiere was a great success. Eminent musicologist Sir Donald Tovey placed the work “among the greatest and purest examples of this art-form since Beethoven.’’

Though Dvořák’s Seventh has a similar cast and character with Brahms’s symphonies, the work has a distinct personality of its own, never abandoning the Bohemian folk roots Dvořák adopted as his calling card. Notable is the Scherzo, Dvořák’s greatest dance movement, but one feels a noble presence within each movement and grand resolve overall. Few would argue that the Seventh ranks among Dvořák’s finest achivements.