The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is proceeding with caution for their 2020/21 season.

It means that this Friday, the WSO will open their season with a concert called Beethoven & Bach. It's Winnipegger’s first opportunity to be in the Centennial Concert Hall since things closed down in the early Spring.

It may be surprising to hear that the WSO can proceed with the relatively new Orange-level pandemic protocols in the city of Winnipeg with other arts organizations making even more cuts to their 2020/21 seasons.

“Orchestras are in a unique position that is different than other theatrical performing arts… in that, we actually can perform with our musicians distanced safely. That has been the guiding principle of everything we have been trying to plan over the past 6 months.” WSO Associate Conductor Julian Pellicano says.

It means that although the orchestra will be back on the stage, it is not completely business as usual for the Symphony.

“The stage is going to look much bigger than it normally does because it is more wide open. All of our string players are distanced at 2 metres and our wind and brass players are distanced at 3 metres," Pellicano says. He also confirms that Plexiglas barriers would be placed between the wind players to further comply with safety recommendations minimizing airflow from the instruments on the stage.

Pellicano commended the orchestra for their flexibly as well as their intuition and skill when it comes to adjusting to the new configurations and hardware on the stage.

In terms of audience safety, the Centennial Concert Hall has put in an incredible amount of work to determine what is possible.

“The concert hall is being entered in zones, almost like an airplane,” Pellicano says. Concert goers will see specific details on their tickets and will notice that there is no opportunity to mingle.

Masks are mandatory and with no intermission audience members can proceed straight to their appropriately distanced seats and exit immediately after the concert. Staff will be present to make sure that “people know exactly where they are going and what to do.”

Fans who do not feel comfortable attending the concert hall quite yet are not being excluded from the season opener either. A streaming service with excellent quality will be available for patrons to enjoy the concert from their home if that is preferable to them.

The concert itself is full of musical gems. The WSO is continuing their celebration of Beethoven with his 7th symphony and Egmont Overture. Audiences will also experience the music of Pulitzer Prize-winning African American Composer George Walker, whose works have not been performed much before on Winnipeg Stages.

An extra special feature of the concert will be Concertmaster Gwen Hoebig’s performance of Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major. Pellicano says that WSO’s patrons will agree that Hoebig is “one of the greatest violinists in Canada today."

With only 420 tickets in total available for each night of concerts, audience members should jump on tickets sooner rather than later for this cautious but triumphant return to the Centennial Concert Hall.