January 21st, 2026
World premier of Gabriella Canzani’s Ode to Mourning Doves (2025)
Gabriella, selected as a young emerging artist by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, was invited to participate in the Michael Nesbitt Composers Institute. Through mentoring from the WSO’s composer in residence, Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis, Gabriella prepared her first orchestral composition for performance at the opening concert of the 2026 Winnipeg New Music Festival.
(Photo of Gabriella introducing her orchestral composition, Ode to Mourning Doves (2025), at the Winnipeg New Music Festival on January 21st, 2026.)
A word from Gabriella on Ode to Mourning Doves (2025)
When I was in the initial stages of writing Ode to Mourning Doves, it became clear that the melodic lines I was creating evoked birdcall. Once this idea of birds had gotten into my head, it began to overtake the project; I couldn’t help but conceptualize this piece as a plethora of birds, singing and flying around together. Throughout the piece, you might catch the moments when the birds emerge at sunrise, sing from the treetops, fly by the oceanside, and engage in several other escapades until the sunset quiets them.
All of the birdcalls in Ode to Mourning Doves are fictional, with the exception of one: the mourning dove’s. This bird’s beautiful song, which I used to imitate with my sister when we were kids, first appears in its entirety after the first complete silence of the piece (mm. 24-25). The flutter-tongue and pitch-bending used on the flute to imitate the mourning dove’s call create a beautiful, but lonely sound. As the piece progresses, certain aspects of this call, such as the subtle downward slide (pitch-bending) at the end of notes, are transferred from the flute to the strings, who eventually play the full melody at the climax of the piece (mm. 64-65).
With this work, I hope to have captured the beauty of a spring morning, and the tranquillity that washes over us as we let nature become our escape.
Location
Centennial Concert Hall (555 Main Street, Winnipeg, MB R3B 1C3)
Date & Time
Wednesday, January 21, 2026 , 7:00 pm