Classical concert series ends owing to financial shortfall

Virtuosi Concerts — long a bridge between Winnipeg audiences and the cream of Canadian classical musicians — is closing its doors after 34 years.
Members voted earlier this week to dissolve the organization and transfer its assets to the Women's Musical Club of Winnipeg (established in 1894), placing its legacy and endowment in the hands of one of Canada's oldest continuously operating classical music groups.
That legacy is a storied one. Pianists Angela Hewitt and Janina Fialkowska, local soprano Andriana Chuchman, the Tokyo String Quartet — the list of notable players who have graced Virtuosi's stages goes on, and includes many leading local orchestral musicians.
Heather Lewis
The Stenhammer String Quartet was a highlight of Virtuosi's last season.
Virtuosi was born in 1991 from a quintessentially Winnipeg blend: sleeves-rolled-up, grassroots organizing and a local pool of crack musicians. Its prime mover was Harry Strub, a professor of psychology at the University of Winnipeg who had the good sense not to take a second job any further than down the hall.
In 1993, Virtuosi Concerts set up its first formal office at the university in concert with the opening of Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall — its main performance venue at the university — while remaining closely tied to co-presenters CBC Radio, whose offices were just across the street.
These tight-knit geographical co-ordinates gave students, CBC producers and downtown residents all easy access to Virtuosi's world-class concerts.
'Here I am in a cushy psychology-professor job at a university and I get to play show biz,' Strub told the Free Press in 2005. 'The University of Winnipeg is now the No. 1 university concert presenter in Canada — and it doesn't have a music program.'
Strub stepped down as Virtuosi's artistic director in 2020; he continues to teach arts psychology courses.
Over the course of his tenure, Strub introduced Winnipeggers to scores of famous out-of-town musicians, as well as carving out a home for Winnipeg musicians such as Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra violinist Karl Stobbe, soprano Tracy Dahl and others; helped establish an endowment fund at the Winnipeg Foundation supporting Virtuosi's Young Artist Program; and ushered Virtuosi into its heyday as an incorporated non-profit independent from CBC, which it became in 1998.
'What an incredible legacy. Then our artistic director, Jennifer Thiessen, took up the planning (in 2022) and put on really fantastic series of seasons through really difficult times with the pandemic, and then the return after,' says Virtuosi board chairwoman Heidi Reimer-Epp.
While the pandemic dealt a severe blow in 2020 to performing arts groups, Virtuosi experienced another severe blow: the University of Winnipeg's withdrawal of operational support and access to its venue.
Virtuosi persisted for several years with revenue comprised of a mix of project grants, ticket revenue and donations, as arts organizations across the country post-pandemic struggled with returning to their historical audience numbers, inflation and diminished government and corporate support for the arts and cultural sector.
However, after unsuccessful bids for 2024-25 operational grants from government sources, Virtuoso was facing a crippling shortfall by December 2024.
Private donors stepped in to help complete the 2024-25 season, though a financial adviser specializing in the arts sector confirmed the situation's seriousness.
'We left no door unopened, looking for ways to make Virtuosi viable for another season, but at a certain point, I guess I would say it was just the responsible thing for music in Winnipeg to say this isn't going to work, and to do it in such a way that we ended in a position of strength,' says Reimer-Epp.
Matt Duboff
American violinist Rachel Barton Pine was featured at Virtuosi Concerts this season.
Virtuosi's final season, curated by Thiessen, showcased a mix of classical works, emerging composers, mentorship projects, cross-genre collaborations and a celebration of underrepresented voices.
Highlights included performances by violinist Rachel Barton Pine, cross-cultural ensemble Constantinople, Scandinavian string quartet the Stenhammar Quartet and the performance collective Looking Glass Ensemble.
'Classical music in the past has had the reputation for elitism and exclusivity. Another priority, in conjunction with Virtuosi's mandate, for me in my time was opening the doors to representing a really wide diversity of composers and performers — and showing that excellent music can be made by, and for, everybody. I'm really proud of the stories we told,' Thiessen says.
Virtuosi's departure will leave a void, but its local musicians and core supporters remain engaged across the city's interconnected musical circles and organizations.
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'Virtuosi was an organization that was bringing world-class music and musicians to Winnipeg, and that's not going to stop,' says Winnipeg pianist Madeline Hildebrand, a former Virtuosi board member who helped the organization launch its Young Artist Program in 2015.
The endowment fund that animated the program will continue to support young musicians under its new stewards, the Women's Musical Club of Winnipeg.
'It's such a Winnipeg gesture, right? It's a beautiful thing that one community organization can support another community organization,' Hildebrand says.
'I know that the Women's Musical Club is going to run with it and do great things.'
conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca
Conrad SweatmanReporter
Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad.
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