2026-2027 Concert Season
The New Westminster Symphony Orchestra presents a varied repertoire this season, from dances to all-Mozart, and classics with well-known melodies.
Unless otherwise specified, all our concerts take place at Sanctuary on 6th, 207 6th Street in New Westminster at 2pm.
Free parking is available at the New Westminster City Hall, 511 Royal Ave.
Admission is a suggested $25 donation at the door.
Cash, Interac and Credit Card are accepted.
Tap your feet and feel the beat to lively dance music from Eastern Europe. Dvorak’s dances evoke the spirit and style of Bohemian folk songs, and Brahms’ dances are influenced by Hungarian gypsy-style music. Sibelius' melancholic Valse Triste is part of incidental music for a play. Tchaikovsky's fantasy overture depicts Shakespeare's famous story of Romeo and Juliet, young lovers caught in the conflict between their two families.
Conductor: Bujar Llapaj
Program:
Dvorak: Slavonic Dances op. 72, #2 (arr. by Morawetz)
Brahms: Hungarian Dance #5
Brahms: Hungarian Dance #6
Borodin: Prince Igor Polovtsian Dances
Sibelius: Valse Triste
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Overture
Guest
Bujar Llapaj, conductor
Born and raised in Albania, Maestro Llapaj studied at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, Albania, and the Conservatoire National de Rueil-Malmaison in Paris.
Maestro Llapaj has won multiple awards and remains a prominent figure in the Balkan classical music scene. He has conducted concerts throughout Europe, and still travels abroad as a guest conductor. He immigrated to Canada in 2002, and has been principal conductor of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra since 2007, and the Ambleside Orchestra since 2021.
Maestro Llapaj is known for his pursuit of excellence in both music and music education. As artistic director of the Albanian National Theater of Opera and Ballet, he showcased music by famous composers as well as world premières of works by upcoming Albanian composers.
He was the founding conductor and artistic director for the New Philharmonic Orchestra, a nonprofit group of Tirana’s best musicians whose first concert memorialized the victims of 9/11. He also chaired the department of conducting and singing at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, where he developed new programs in conducting and pedagogy.
This seasonal concert features classics from the Nutcracker and Vivaldi’s Winter. Children can gather around to listen to the story-telling of a well-loved Christmas story. At intermission, there will be an instrument discovery for the children. The concert concludes with a visit by Santa and well-known carols. Bring the whole family!
Conductor: Bryan Deans
MC/Narrator: Jordan Back
Program:
Vivaldi: Winter
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker
* Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies
* Arabian Dance
* Chinese Dance
* Dance of the Reed Pipes (Mirlitons)
* Russian Dance (Trepak)
Anderson: Sleigh Ride
Holcombe: Twas the Night Before Christmas
Jingle Bells
Audience Sing-A-Long
Silent Night
Guests
Bryan Deans, conductor
Bryan Deans is a Vancouver-based conductor, cellist, composer, and music educator whose career has spanned orchestral performance, education, and a wide range of musical genres.
A graduate of the University of Victoria and founder of the genre-crossing Plastic Acid Orchestra, Bryan has conducted symphonic, pops, jazz, and multimedia performances, including appearances with Video Games Live. He currently serves as President and Associate Conductor of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of Lions Gate Sinfonia, and Head of Fine Arts at St. John’s School in Vancouver.
A cellist by training, Bryan brings a performer’s perspective and an energetic, collaborative approach to the podium, with a particular passion for engaging young audiences and inspiring the next generation through live orchestral music. He is delighted to join the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra for this year’s Christmas concert.
Jordan Back, MC/narrator
Jordan Back is an experienced public speaker, event host, and musician who brings a lifelong love of performance to the stage. A City Councillor with the District of North Vancouver, Jordan is also a seasoned event announcer and MC, having hosted a wide range of community, sporting, and charitable events.
Music has been an important part of Jordan’s life for many years. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia and spent several years singing with the renowned Vancouver male choir Chor Leoni. He is delighted to bring together his backgrounds in music and storytelling to narrate ’Twas the Night Before Christmas with the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra.
Immerse yourself in the artistry of Mozart’s orchestral, choral, opera and concerto music. The orchestra’s principal bassoonist, Jonathan Chadwick, will be the featured soloist in Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto. The community Willan Choir will join the orchestra for the second half to perform Mozart’s Coronation Mass, premiered on Easter day 1779, as one of his early sacred works to satisfy the requirements of his appointment to provide court and church music.
Conductor: Jack Zhang
Soloist: Jonathan Chadwick
Guest: Willan Choir
Program:
Bassoon Concerto
Gran Partita
Ave Verum Corpus
Coronation Mass
Guest
Jonathan Chadwick, bassoon
Originally from Colorado, Jonathan moved to the Lower Mainland with his wife in 2020. After studying Ethnomusicology in school, he made a career change into tech and works as a software engineer in Vancouver. He has played with the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra since 2024. His bassoon is 119 years old and was previously owned by former UBC music director Jesse Read. His two kids are usually the cutest audience members at every NWSO concert.
Enjoy three standards from the classical repertoire.
Offenbach’s singular influence on the operetta form is displayed by his sparkling, witty, and adroit caricatures. The Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld features a virtuoso clarinet solo, a winsome waltz solo for the concertmaster, and finally the well-known tune, the Can-Can.
Copland’s Appalachian Spring was written as a ballet piece about a newly wed farming couple and their blossoming love. The “Simple Gifts” melody established this piece as iconic American music.
The opening 4-note motif from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is arguably the most recognized theme. With its short 3 note followed by a descending, longer tone, it is often thought of as fate knocking on the door. The supremacy of C major in the final movement conjures triumph over fate, further emphasized by more than 100 bars of only dominant and tonic chords.
Conductor: Nicholas Urquhart
Program:
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5