2025-2026 Concert Season
The New Westminster Symphony Orchestra presents a varied repertoire this season, from Spanish to Winter music, and music for, by and featuring young musicians.
Unless otherwise specified, all our concerts take place at Sanctuary on 6th, 207 6th Street in New Westminster at 2pm. Admission is by donation, with a suggested donation of $25.
Keep the sun shining into October with a musical trip to the sunny Mediterranean! Featured music comes from southern Spain, Italy and France and concludes in Egypt. The rousing pace of this music will keep you on the edge of your seat!
Program:
Bizet: Carmen Suite No.1
Manuel De Falla: Danza Ritual Del Fuego
Rimsky Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol
Chabrier: Rhapsody España
Bizet: L'Arlesienne Suite No.2
Gounod: Saltarello
Verdi: Triumphal March from Aida
Get in the mood for the holidays with seasonal music. The Finlandia symphony embodies the spirit of a country with vast, snow-covered landscapes. Christmas music ranging from the Nutcracker ballet, to a medley of Christmas songs, and themes from Christmas movies will be presented by the orchestra, as well as the beautiful singing of Olesia Shewchuck. Don't leave the concert without joining in a sing-a-long of a medley of carols, sure to leave you with the holiday spirit!
Soloist: Olesia Shewchuck, soprano
Program:
Sibelius: Finlandia
Christmas at the movies
Waldteufel: Skater’s Waltz
Tchaikovsky: Overture and March, from the Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker
Andersen: A Christmas Festival
and more…
Guest artist
Olesia Shewchuck, soprano
Olesia is a multi-disciplinary artist - TV & Stage actor, classically trained singer & pianist, conductor, and award-winning filmmaker.
As a vocal soloist, she has performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra, the National Ballet of Ukraine, and City Opera Vancouver. She also teaches private vocal lessons, as well as group vocal workshops. Olesia enjoys hosting sing-a-longs and music jams that bring people and community together, accompanying on guitar and piano.
Olesia has an Honours Degree in Chemical Physics and is currently writing a science musical.
For more information about Olesia, visit www.olesia.ca.
A concert for young and old(er), this program has many familiar tunes, heard in cartoons and video games. Children from our community will be involved in providing visual material for the classic story of Peter and the Wolf, and youth will be invited to participate playing “toy instruments” such as a toy trumpet, a ratchet, and bird calls (nightingale, quail and cuckoo) in the Toy Symphony, mysteriously attributed to either Haydn or Leopold Mozart. Soloist Dominic Woo will dazzle everyone with his virtuosic playing. A program for all ages!
Conductor: Nick Urquhart
MC and narrator: Carlos Vela-Martinez
Soloist: Dominic Woo, violin
Program:
Mozart/Haydn: Toy symphony
Saint Saens: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso
Video Games Live!
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite (selections)
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
Guest artists
Carlos Vela-Martinez, MC and narrator
Carlos Vela-Martinez is a multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, BC. A graduate of Emily Carr, he has a long-established studio practice now based at 312Main downtown. There he creates his sculpture and props using many techniques including mold-making, casting and finishing in a variety of materials from resin, plaster and found materials.
His curiosity in Story and Theatre has led him to include prop-making, acting, singing, writing, and filmmaking in his art practice.
He has made props for theatre and props and production design for independent film productions. As a performer, his stage work began as a singer, leading to acting in musicals and short film. He co-wrote, co-produced and performed in the award-winning short musical film “The Perfect Spot”. He co-wrote and is Production Designer for “Beyond Blood”, a short vampire opera film in pre-production. He recently co-wrote and directed “Bedlock”, a short comedy-thriller currently in post-production. These film projects are through Vibrant House, an independent production collaboration of which he is co-founder.
Dominic Woo, violinist
Dominic is an active solo violin player both in Canada and Europe. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music from the Musik Hochschule Felix Mendelssohn Bartholy in Leipzig, and during his studies was the concertmaster under the baton of legendary conductors such as Kurt Masur and Fabio Luisi.
Dominic has performed with the “l’seidici” chamber orchestra, Leipzig’s ARS chamber orchestra, the Jenaer Philharmonie Orchestra and the world-renowned “Gewandhaus Orchester zur Leipzig”. He was awarded 2nd Prize in 2007 Padova International competition, and the top prize in the ’96 North American Star Quest.
Dominic teaches students from 5 to 70 years old, and has been soloist with numerous orchestras such as West Coast Symphony, New Westminster Symphony, Vancouver Philharmonic, Harmonia chamber orchestra and Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra.
For more information about Dominic, visit www.dominicwoo.com.
Schubert wrote 6 symphonies, and Mozart composed 13 before reaching adulthood. This concert celebrates musicians who have excelled at an early age. Former cellist in the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra, Elaina Wai will be returning after her first year of university studies to perform Lalo’s romantic and lively Cello Concerto. Owen Black, French Horn player and a first year composition student at UBC composed his first symphonic work specially for our orchestra. Marvel at the ingenuity of the young minds!
Soloist: Elaina Wai, cello
Program:
Owen Black: A Flight Through New Winds (world premiere)
Lalo: Cello Concerto
Elgar: The Wand of Youth, Suite 2
Schubert: “Unfinished” Symphony (No. 8)
Guest artist
Elaina Wai, cellist
Elaina Ann Wai is a cellist from Burnaby, British Columbia. She recently completed her ARCT in Cello Performance and now studies cello at the University of Ottawa.
Her passion for music began early, growing up in a musical family and constantly seeking new sounds and inspiration. A pivotal moment came when her father introduced her to a Piano Guys video featuring cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, whose playful and creative performance inspired her to take up the cello. After a year of persistent requests, she received cello lessons as a birthday gift, sparking a lifelong love for the instrument.
Elaina began piano lessons at age three with her mother, Theresa Lui, and later completed her ARCT in Piano Performance under Yuko Noble. She also studied violin until age twelve, when she chose to focus on piano and cello, while also learning trumpet and baritone to participate in school bands.
An active musician, Elaina has performed with the Surrey Youth Orchestra, New West Symphony Orchestra, Burnaby District Handbell Choir, Cariboo Hill Temple Songsters Choir and Band, and numerous school ensembles. Elaina also worked in the pit orchestra at Theatre Under The Stars. She has served as principal cellist of the BC Honours Orchestra and has extensive chamber music experience, including performances of Death and the Maiden, Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major, and collaborations with her sisters and colleagues.
In addition to performing, Elaina teaches cello and piano, accompanies choirs and soloists, and enjoys language learning, baking, and outdoor activities. She aspires to a professional career in music, with goals of performing in orchestras, conducting, and opening her own music studio.