WJO 2025-2026 Season Concerts | Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra

The WJO 2025 - 2026 Season

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Burt Bacharach

What the World Needs Now - The Music of Burt Bacharach
featuring vocalist Jennifer Hanson

Saturday, October 4, 2025 | 7:30 pm
Seven Oaks Performing Arts Centre

He wrote more than 500 songs, including hits for the Carpenters, herb Alpert, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick and Christopher Cross, earning six Grammy awards, three Oscars and an Emmy along the way. This concert conceived by vocalist and featured guest artist Jennifer Hanson, this concert pays tribute to the prolific and endlessly talented Burt Bacharach, as we kick off an exciting 2025-26 season.

I've Got the World on a String

I've Got the World on a String - SOLD OUT!
a collaboration with the Agassiz Cello Festival

Thursday, October 30, 2025 | 7:30 pm
U of M Desautels Concert Hall

Pairing the rich, sonorous and endlessly romantic sound of the cello with the majesty of the WJO is a match made in heaven. Strings meet swing in this must-see concert featuring the music of the American songbook legends like George Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue) and Duke Ellington. Cellists Matthias Bartolemy, Raphael Weinroth-Browne and Sam Nadurak take centre stage for a unique concert experience you need to hear live!

Bossa Nova Craze

Bossa Nova Craze - The Music of Getz & Gilberto
featuring Amber Epp, Paul Balcain, Emmanuel Bach and Marco Castillo

Thursday, November 20, 2025 | 7:30 pm
West End Cultural Centre

In !964 Stan Getz and vocalist Astrud Gilberto introduced American audiences to the Bossa Nova with their Grammy-winning record. The record was a commercial and artistic triumph and started a bonafide craze. Join the WJO with vocalist Amber App, saxophonist Paul Balcain and Brazilian guitarists Emmanuel Bach and Marco Castillo for the wild tale of Bossa Nova's arrival in North America.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas - 60th Anniversary Celebration
featuring Quinn Greene and vocalist TBA

Sunday, December 14, 2025 | 2:00 pm | 7:30 pm
Winnipeg Arts Gallery

Good Grief Charlie Brown! Charles Shultz's beloved animated feature turns 60 years old and, in the years since its 1965 release, Charlie Brown's search for the 'true meaning of Christmas' has delighted millions, becoming a Christmas classic along the way. Featuring Quinn Greene narrating, The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra brings Vince Guaraldi's iconic soundtrack back to the stage.

Joni Mitchell

Women's Day Tribute to Joni Mitchell - Women's Day 5.0
featuring vocalists Heitha Forsyth & Karly Epp, Keynote speaker TBA

Sunday, March 8, 2026 |7:30 pm (Symposium at 1:00 pm)
Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain

Our Women's Day begins in the afternoon with the WJO Women-Led Symposium. The symposium is open to all!! Students, teachers and jazz enthusiasts are welcome to come, listen and learn from fantastic leaders. Sessions include an in-person keynote, breakout instrumental and vocal creativity sessions called "You Can Do It", a "Living Giants" jazz history session and an Intersectional Feminist in Music session. In the evening we are honoured to share our Women's Day Tribute to Joni Mitchell. The program will include a few favourites of the W2JO over the last few years, several commissions by members of BC's Sister Jazz Orchestra, the Calgary Women's Jazz Orchestra, the W2JO (of course) and other great tunes by some of the leading women composers of today.

Ben Kidd

An 8-Bit Big Band! WJO Meets Video Games
featuring arrangements by drummer and YouTube sensation Ben Kidd

Thursday, April 16, 2026 | 7:30 pm
West End Cultural Centre

Two plumbers exploring a magical world of flying turtles, hoppin' mad mushrooms and magical bricks. A hero saves a mythical land - and its princess- from an all-encompassing evil. And a world full of strange creatures you can capture and collect, For many of us, these Nintendo stories and their instantly recognizable music were pillars of childhood. Drummer and YouTube sensation (8-bit Music Theory) joins the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra for a nostalgic journey through the world of video game music.

Steely Dan

Reelin' in More Years - A Steely Dan Tribute
featuring Laurent Roy and Leonard Shaw

Saturday, May 9, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 10, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were jazz fans who turned to rock and roll only after hearing The Beatles, forming the iconic band Steely dan. Over the years they recorded a string of hits - catchy yet harmonically sophisticated and rhythmically nuanced - that reflected their affection for great jazz music. Laurent Roy, Leonard Shaw and friends bring their popular show back to Winnipeg in a unique big band setting with the WJO.

The WJO's 2025/26 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!

The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra is Generously Funded by:

Funding assistance provided by the Manitoba government. Aide financière accordée par le gouvernement du Manitoba.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Education Sponsors:

The Play-Along App project is supported by the Government of Canada’s Healthy Communities Initiative.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.
Nous reconnaissons l'appui financier du gouvernement du Canada.

Concert Sponsors:

Hotel Sponsor:

Radio Sponsors

Special Event Supporters

Supporters

The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra welcomes and shares its performance and creation of music - a universal language to all people irrespective of culture, race, sexuality, ability, language and gender.

Music is an agent of hope. A dynamic and valuable device that helps us to heal and to bring us together. The First Peoples of Canada understood this and used music to reunite, resolve and reconcile. In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that WJO activities take place on Treaty Territory – land that was maintained and earnestly cared for by Indigenous peoples before European settlement. Manitoba is the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and is the homeland of the Métis Nation. We acknowledge that Winnipeg benefits daily from Treaty 3 water that comes from Shoal Lake 40. It is with sincere sentiment that we recognize the mistakes of our recent and distant past. In working towards a Canada that benefits us all, we commit to seeking a greater understanding of Canada’s diverse cultural relationships through continued work with Indigenous communities; we commit to live in ways that honour and respect the treaties that were made on these territories; and we commit to stewarding the land in harmony for all who will come after us.

- Please refrain from wearing any fragrances or scented products as other patrons are allergic to them.
- Your likeness may be captured at this event. Attending this event implies your permission for your image to be used in marketing or promotional purposes.
- Please do not attend if you do not feel well. Call the box office at 204-632-5299 to arrange to go to another concert.

Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra / Box 68114, RPO Osborne Village, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3L 2V9
Main: 204-421-9398 / [email protected] Box Office: 204-632-5299 / [email protected]

The WJO 2025 - 2026 Season

What the World Needs Now - The Music of Burt Bacharachfeaturing vocalist Jennifer Hanson

Bossa Nova Craze - The Music of Getz & Gilbertofeaturing Amber Epp, Paul Balcain, Emmanuel Bach and Marco Castillo

A Charlie Brown Christmas - 60th Anniversary Celebrationfeaturing Quinn Greene and vocalist TBA

Women's Day Tribute to Joni Mitchell - Women's Day 5.0featuring vocalists Heitha Forsyth & Karly Epp, Keynote speaker TBA​Sunday, March 8, 2026 |7:30 pm (Symposium at 1:00 pm)Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain

Reelin' in More Years - A Steely Dan Tributefeaturing Laurent Roy and Leonard Shaw