The WJO 2019 - 2020 Season

For Swing Sake
with drummer Sherrie Maricle

Sunday, Oct 27, 2019
2:00 pm  •  7:30 pm
Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)
​​ - Muriel Richardson Auditorium

Award-winning band leader Sherri Maricle takes over the drum chair for the WJO's season opening concert. With her big band, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra and numerous small groups, Maricle's dynamic drumming burns with intensity, surprises with nuance, and propels soloist and ensemble alike to dizzying heights. With that fire driving the band, our season opener will be a toe-tapping, swinging start to the WJO's 2019/2020 season.

Alliance
with pianist David Braid and conductor Philippe Côte
​
Sunday, Nov 17, 2019
2:00 pm - (one show only)
Seven Oaks Performing Arts Centre (SOPAC)

​Recognized as masters on their chosen instrument, both Braid and Coté are celebrated as unique, innovative & intriguing composers. Coté's record, Lungta – an album ten years in the making – is a masterpiece in orchestration and playing. Braid's Corona Divinae Misericordiae was a 2019 Juno Award nominee. Both artists are smashing through conventional walls and creating music that is arresting, fresh and listenable.

More Charlie Brown Christmas
with actor Quinn Greene and vocalist Jayme Giesbrecht

Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, 3:00 pm
Sunday, Dec 8, 2019, 2:00 pm
Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)
​ - Muriel Richardson Auditorium
​
Back by popular demand, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, with actor Quinn Greene, revisits A Charlie Brown Christmas, this time with extra locations. We will also revisit 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and feature seasonal songs with vocalist and radio host Jayme Giesbrecht.
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Regional concerts: (contact your local arts centre for tickets)
Friday, Dec. 13, 2019 - Carman
Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019 - Winkler
Sunday, Dec 15, 2019 - Souris

Lindo Maravilhoso!
with legendary Brazilian drummer Kiko Freitas and guitarist Marco Castillo

Sunday, Feb 9, 2020
2:00 pm​ •  7:30 pm
Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain (CCFM)
 - Pauline-Boutal Hall

Drummer World's 2019 winner of “Best Drummer-World Music” is the WJO's very special guest for a rare opportunity to hear Samba and Bossa Nova played at its finest. One of the most in-demand drummers in Brazil, Freitas has toured the world with João Bosco, and has performed with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Michel Legrand, John Patitucci, and most of Brazil's top tier musicians over the course of his long and distinguished career. Winnipeg guitarist and singer Marco Castillo joins us for a concert that promises to be Lindo Maravilhoso!
​Concert Sponsor: Jazz Financial

Respect - The Music of Aretha Franklin
with Ego Spank and vocalists Jennifer Hanson, Heitha Forsyth and Andrina Turenne

Rescheduled to Sunday, June 28, 2020
7:30 pm
Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR)
​- Bonnie and John Buhler Hall
​
The undisputed Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin is synonymous with songs like Chain of Fools, Natural Woman, Freeway of Love, and RESPECT. Her lyrics were a harbinger of modern-day feminism: strong, independent, demanding of equality & freedom, sung with a voice that would accept nothing less. Joining the WJO for this show is a tour-de-force of local talent - Murray Pulver, Marc Arnould, Daniel Roy & Gilles Fournier, known collectively as Ego Spank, and vocalists Jennifer Hanson, Heitha Forsyth and Andrina Tourenne.

Carpathian Blues
with pianist John Stetch

Rescheduled to Wednesday, August 19, 2020
2:00 pm  •  7:30 pm
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Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)
​ - Rooftop Garden
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Jazz music, since its humble beginnings in Congo Square, has been a fusion of folk, classical and popular music. As the artform spread, jazz embraced and adapted music from all over the world, giving us countless flavours and variations. To help the WJO explore folk music in jazz, six-time Juno nominee John Stetch joins the group as our special guest. Stetch, over the span of his 15 recordings, has fused classical and folk music with his own fearless creativity, boundless imagination and humour.

The WJO's 2019/20 season continues our tradition of classic arrangements, new compositions, surprise guests, old friends, talented young instrumentalists and vocalists, and themes that we think will pique your interest!