WSO announces new concertmaster, Karl Stobbe
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra announced Monday that acclaimed violinist Karl Stobbe has won the audition to be the next WSO concertmaster, beginning with the 2025/26 season.
Stobbe, who has been assistant concertmaster since 1996, was selected by the unanimous decision of the audition committee.
'It is an incredible honour and responsibility to be appointed the next concertmaster of the WSO,' Stobbe said in a release. 'I look forward to working with the dedicated and talented musicians of the WSO and maestro Daniel Raiskin, in serving the community of Winnipeg and beyond.'
Stobbe's appointment coincides with another WSO milestone; the violinist succeeds longtime concertmaster Gwen Hoebig, who will step down at the end of the 2024/25 season after 37 years in the first violin chair.
May 10 at 7:30 p.m. and May 11 at 2 p.m., the WSO presents Celebrating Gwen Hoebig with a program of Mozart, Debussy and Strauss. Hoebig will be joined by her musical family: her husband, pianist David Moroz, and her children, violist Alexander Moroz and cellist Juliana Moroz. Tickets are available at wso.ca.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
22-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
What's Up: Jim Hescott, Taste of Asia, BioBlitz, tribute to R.E.M.
SUPPLIED Jim Hiscott is a button-accordion virtuoso. SUPPLIED Jim Hiscott is a button-accordion virtuoso. Are you spending too much time watching Instagram reels? Tonight, focus your attention on the infectious tunes of Newfoundland reels instead. Unlike the videos churned out according to soulless algorithms, reels are — from a traditional musician's perspective — danceable folk tunes derived from centuries of cross-national rhythmic pollination and intergenerational performance tradition. Reels from Newfoundland, Ireland, Ukraine, Mexico, Basque Spain and the Red River Valley converge in the 10th and final concert of DreamPlay Small Concerts' second season, an hour-long program built to suit the interpretations of button-accordion virtuoso Jim Hiscott. A longtime music producer with CBC whose compositions have been performed by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the St. Catharines, Ont.-born Hiscott will be joined at the WAG by Chris Anstey, bassist Gilles Fournier, multi-instrumentalist/percussionist Daniel Roy and Glenn Buhr. Best known as a first violinist for the WSO since 2005, as a St. John's native, Anstey's first language is Newfoundland fiddle, says DreamPlay artistic director Buhr, who will play piano, guitar and tambourine. 'It's a joy playing this music from everywhere,' Buhr says. — Ben Waldman JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS fFILES Taste of Asia moves to Memorial Boulevard this weekend. JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS fFILES Taste of Asia moves to Memorial Boulevard this weekend. The third annual Taste of Asia Festival is moving to a new and bigger venue. Previously held at The Forks, the free outdoor event is taking over Memorial Boulevard for two days of food, entertainment and cultural programming. More than 100 vendors and a dozen food trucks will be stationed on the street, which will be closed to traffic. Memorial Park will be dotted with bouncy castles, a performance stage and cultural displays from China, India, Japan, the Philippines and elsewhere. Live performances will be running throughout the festival, culminating in a daily Asian Pop Showdown from 7 to 9 p.m., featuring dancing and singing from local K-Pop enthusiasts. — Eva Wasney MATT GOERZEN / THE BRANDON SUN FILES BioBlitz will record as many plant and animal species as possible Saturday at Assinboine Park. BioBlitz will record as many plant and animal species as possible Saturday at Assinboine Park. What's a BioBlitz, we hear you ask? A BioBlitz is a collective voluntary effort to record as many plant and animal species as possible within a designated location and time. Community volunteers are invited to explore Assiniboine Park at their leisure, documenting their observations on data-sharing portal iNaturalist. The information gathered can be used to inform conservation strategies and decisions related to park planning. While the event is open to volunteers of all ages, a cellphone with data service is required for those who wish to participate. Children under 16 must be supervised by an adult caregiver. Volunteers are not required to stay for the duration of the event; they can come and go anytime between noon and 3 p.m. Dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. Advance registration is encouraged for planning purposes, but walk-ups are also welcome. To register, visit BioBlitz. Check in at the Cargo Bar patio near the duck pond upon arrival. — AV Kitching IAN MCCAUSLAND PHOTO From left: Jay Turner, Jeff Derksen, Todd Hunter and Wes Gerbrandt of Oddfellows Local IAN MCCAUSLAND PHOTO From left: Jay Turner, Jeff Derksen, Todd Hunter and Wes Gerbrandt of Oddfellows Local Good cover bands often thrive on putting their own spin on the originals, but it's usually DJs who take the most pleasure in exploring the deep cuts, the bootlegs and the B-sides. Oddfellows Local (Jay Turner, Jeff Derksen, Todd Hunter and Wes Gerbrandt) seem to be working in that DJ spirit with their upcoming tribute show to R.E.M., exploring the band's art-rock years of the '80s, leading up to their breakthrough album, Document. Those were the years — think the albums on the IRS label: Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction and Life's Rich Pageant — when the eventual stadium-rock stars experimented with jangle pop and college rock, while vocalist Michael Stipe mumbled and waxed cryptic, producing some of their most interesting and vital work. Oddfellows Local, an obvious allusion to R.E.M.'s track Oddfellows Local 151 from Document, performs two sets at the May 25 Sidestage show. Proceeds go to Manitoba Mutts Dog Rescue. — Conrad Sweatman
Winnipeg Free Press
11-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Night of farewells filled with joy, reverence
We always knew this day would come, and when it ultimately did, it was a joy-filled celebration of world-class talent and decades-long dedication to a musical organization forever changed by that artistry. Revered Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Gwen Hoebig took her final curtain call Saturday night as the WSO presented the last offering in its Saturday Classic series, the aptly titled Celebrating Gwen Hoebig. The Vancouver-born musician steps down this month after a remarkable 37-year tenure in her prestigious position; she is just the fourth concertmaster in the WSO's 77-year history and Canada's longest reigning concertmaster, now passing the proverbial bow to Karl Stobbe. Mark Rash photo WSO concertmaster Gwen Hoebig plays at a concert in her honour on Saturday night. And what a sendoff it was, with the audience bursting into thunderous applause the moment the violinist took the stage for her first selection, led by WSO maestro Daniel Raiskin. The emotionally charged night also marked the retirement of longtime orchestra pillars: Jan Kocman after an incredible 51 years as principal flutist; and principal cellist Yuri Hooker, who has served for a quarter-century. Raiskin paid personal homage to these three beloved musicians following intermission, hailing them as 'precious members of the WSO' while adding his own heartfelt benediction: 'You have been what the orchestra has become all these years.' The 115-minute (with intermission) program launched with the WSO première of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante K. Anh. 104 (320e), for which Hoebig was joined by the two musical children she shares with pianist husband David Moroz: cellist Juliana Moroz and violist Alexander (Sasha) Moroz, now establishing professional careers of their own. This delightfully effervescent musical bonbon — Mozart's incomplete score was reconstructed in 1989 by Britain composer Philip Wilby — proved an ideal choice, showcasing the simpatico artistry and familial bonds of these three string players. After Hoebig rendered its gracious opening theme accompanied by her children, we were also given a promise of the future of classical music. Juliana Moroz exuded pure confidence and poise, her silken, honey-sweet tone particularly singing during the one-movement work's more lyrical passages. Sasha Moroz provided steady ballast for the cohesive, well-balanced ensemble, nimbly tossing off his virtuosic runs right into his uppermost range with aplomb. The trio's entwining of their lines stirred the soul; it was a passing of the torch to the next generation— and event also witnessed by Hoebig's internationally renowned cellist brother, Desmond Hoebig in town for the auspicious occasion — right before our very eyes. Mark Rash photo Maestro Daniel Raiskin (right) leads the orchestra, violinist Gwen Hoebig and her pianist husband David Moroz on Mozart's Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra. We were then treated to a second Mozart work, and another WSO première Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra, K. Anh. 56 (315f), with Hoebig now joined onstage by David Moroz. After Raiskin set a brisk pace for the opening Allegro, Hoebig once more delivered its opening theme, while displaying her expansive palette of tonal colours and seamless, lyrical phrasing. Moroz matched her note for note with crisp figuration and trills that sparkled, neatly tossing off his part's virtuosic demands while infusing his playing with customary finesse. The slower movement, Andantino: cantabile, was particular highlight, with Raiskin sculpting sound like an artisan while sensitively cueing each section — well in tune with the soloists who brought its languorous themes to life. Then it was time for the rollicking rondo finale, Allegretto, teeming with ebullient high spirits and packed with rhythmic punch, leading to a triumphant finish and another ovation by the charmed crowd. The second half of the program featured Hoebig now returned to her first chair as concertmaster, seated among her musical colleagues for Debussy's La Mer, last performed here in 2016. Penned between 1903 and 1905, the French composer's highly impressionist, lushly orchestrated 'symphonic sketches' capture the grandeur of the sea, unfolding as three varied movements, from the opening, hushed From Dawn to Noon on the Sea, through to infectious Play of the Waves before majestic closer Dialogue of the Sea. The maestro's sensitive approach ensured clarity throughout, as its constantly shifting waves of sound ebbed and flowed like sea tides. Kudos to the rarely spied double harps, as well as the winds that shimmered like sunlight on water. Sonorous brass were equally matched by a dramatic timpani roll at the top of the finale, as well as such gentler percussion effects as bells and cymbals evoking dancing waves in this ear-pleaser not frequently heard live. Mark Rash photo From left: first violinist Gwen Hoebig; her son, violist Sasha Moroz; her daughter, cellist Juliana Moroz, and WSO maestro Daniel Raiskin Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The program rounded out with one of Hoebig's stated personal favourites, last performed here in 2008: Richard Strauss's narrative-based symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28, where the fiddle represents the German medieval trickster title character in a series of mischievous adventures. This performance, ranging from stately themes to shocking dynamic contrasts and pungent dissonances, charmed the senses, while capturing the joy of music that Hoebig has always brought to the stage — and gifted to us throughout her 37 seasons. As expected, this great Canadian artist, who has left a lasting legacy, garnered one final standing ovation with the entire house now on its feet, cheering for their own musical hero, who will be missed deeply, as the WSO now embarks on its next grand and glorious chapter. The program repeated Sunday afternoon as the final offering in the Shirley Loewen Sunday Classics series.
Winnipeg Free Press
07-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Not just one of the greats, she's one of the greatest,' Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's Daniel Raiskin says of retiring concertmaster Gwen Hoebig
When Gwen Hoebig takes the stage at the Centennial Concert Hall this weekend, it will be for the last time as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's concertmaster. After 37 years, the renowned first-chair violinist will be taking a well-earned rest, but not before a pair of shows celebrating her glittering career. Celebrating Gwen Hoebig Centennial Concert Hall • Saturday, 7:30 p.m. • Sunday, 2 p.m. • Tickets $25-$99 at Celebrating Gwen Hoebig Centennial Concert Hall • Saturday, 7:30 p.m. • Sunday, 2 p.m. • Tickets $25-$99 at The program ● Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante● Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra● Claude Debussy's La mer ● Richard Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel To make things extra special, Hoebig will be performing alongside her family: husband and pianist David Moroz; son, violist Alexander (Sasha) Moroz; and daughter, cellist Juliana Moroz. Hoebig will be performing the entire concert, as both orchestral leader and soloist. 'To be in this position, still doing what I'm doing and loving what I'm doing, and being able to share in this way is truly remarkable,' Hoebig says over coffee. Hoebig, 65, is not retiring, to be clear. Her plan, at least as of now, is to take a one-year sabbatical and then return to the orchestra in some capacity. 'I'm hopefully going to stay in the first violin section — if they'll have me. But that's still a work in progress. I'm going to just see how it feels to not go to work on a regular basis. I definitely need a break. Like, I really need a break,' she says. Over the past couple of years, Hoebig has started to feel the physical toll of her job. 'Musicians are also athletes — we are. I've gotten to the point where my neck hurts, my shoulders hurt and I need to work with less intensity. That's really what's led to all of this,' she says. 'I feel kind of bad about it, in many ways. I feel like I'm letting Daniel (Raiskin, the WSO's music director and principal conductor) down, but I need to do this for myself.' MARK RASH PHOTO Daughter Juliana Moroz (left), son Alexander (Sasha) Moroz and husband David Moroz (right) will join Gwen Hoebig onstage. The demands of the role are not just physical. Also called 'first-chair violin,' the concertmaster not only leads the string section and tunes the orchestra, but acts, as Raiskin points out, as the medium between the conductor and the orchestra. 'A great concertmaster is not just a great player and leader and soloist, but also a very finely tuned psychologist, I would say,' he says. The concertmaster sometimes has to navigate high emotions, sometimes conflict, all with the greater good of the whole in mind. 'And I think that Gwen Hoebig is not just one of the greats, she's one of the greatest,' Raiskin says. Hoebig was 27 when she landed the prestigious role of concertmaster for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1987. The Vancouver-born violinist had gotten tenure with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal but found she didn't like being in the section. She aspired to a more leadership-type of role. MARK RASH PHOTO Gwen Hoebig is starting a one-year sabbatical and then hopes to return to the WSO in some capacity. At that time, there were three such positions open in all of Canada, in Winnipeg, Calgary and Quebec City. She got her first choice, concertmaster at the WSO, after undergoing a blind audition process in which musicians perform behind a screen so that decisions are based on virtuosity alone. 'I was thrilled I won the job, absolutely thrilled. This is my husband's hometown so I had immediate support here, which was phenomenal,' she says of the Winnipeg-born Moroz, whom she met as a student at the Juilliard School in New York City. Nearly four decades later, Winnipeg and the WSO remain her home. 'I remember being asked by one of the members of our administration at some point what my five-year plan was, and I didn't have an answer,' she says. 'I love my colleagues, I love the orchestral world, and I just have always wanted to do the best I possibly could do. And it's worked out. We've had an amazing life here.' And now, it's the beginning of a new chapter for everyone. Both Sasha and Juliana, now in their 20s, are finishing their master's degrees from Rice University in Houston, Texas. 'They're missing their grad (for this weekend's shows), but that's sort of traditional in our family,' Hoebig says. Turning the page on 37 years, however, isn't easy. When asked if giving up the role of concertmaster to someone else will be hard for her, she answers without hesitation. 'Yes. I mean, this has been what I've done. This has been what I've loved to do. And in a certain way — and I've actually been talking with my family about this — it's been too much of who I am.' MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Violinist Gwen Hoebig is stepping down as concertmaster of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra after two weekend shows, but she's not retiring. She's excited to explore other interests and creative impulses, to discover who she is beyond 'Gwen Hoebig, concertmaster.' 'It's been too much of my identity. I'm really grateful that I can step back from it. And it's an interesting transition. There's good days and bad days. There's days where I'm like, 'Oh, what am I doing?' But then I also know that, physically, I need to do this,' she says. Hoebig will continue to play the violin, as she has done ever since her father placed one in her hands when she was five years old. She begins every day with scales and arpeggios, and practises regularly. She will also continue to teach. She loves the challenge of working with different personalities — 'because you cannot teach two people the same way,' she says — and figuring out how to draw the best out of them. 'I love working with young people, particularly teenagers. I think it's such a pivotal time in their lives, figuring out what they want to do and inspiring them, and how to get them excited about what they're doing,' she says. Then she has what she calls her 'crazy dream.' 'I don't know if it's going to happen, but making smaller-sized instruments because that's just not done. They're always factory instruments. I don't know if I have the skill set to do that. I don't know if I can develop the skill set to do that, but I could see that being something,' she says. No matter where it takes her, her life will always involve the violin. 'I think the thing that I love the most about it — and it's taken me a long time to get here — is the realization that I can communicate way more easily, on way more of a profound level, through my music-making than I can with words,' she says. 'We are the caretakers for that next generation and the promoters of that next generation. ' –Gwen Hoebig Hoebig is shy, in her own way. She says she's fine talking to people if she knows them; if not, she'd rather stay at the back of the room. 'There is a component to this position (of concertmaster) that has been my weak link, I will say, and that is community relations. That is something that I have not done as well as I wished I could have done,' she says. She's happiest letting her playing do the talking, to let her musicianship speak for itself. But get her talking about the orchestra, her second family, and the pride is obvious. 'The orchestra is really the foundation from which all of our other arts groups function. We play for the opera, we play for the ballet. We are what allows everything to function on a really high level,' she says. 'My colleagues and I, we teach the top students in town. We are the caretakers for that next generation and the promoters of that next generation. We do so much outside of the orchestra, but it's the orchestra that allows us to do the outside work.' Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Sign up for The Warm-Up Hoebig will be missed by her colleagues, including her good friend Karl Stobbe, who has sat immediately to her left as assistant concertmaster since he joined the orchestra in 1996. Stobbe has been appointed as the WSO's next concertmaster. 'I'm going to miss her great playing, of course, but really, mostly the friendship and the comfort level that we have with each other,' he says. 'The fact that something can happen, and we can look over at each other and know exactly how we both feel about it and what we need to do about it, that's going to be missing.' Hoebig is happy that Stobbe — who also underwent the blind-audition process — will be her successor. 'I'm really, really thrilled with the direction that they're going. I think they have made the very best decision possible,' she says. For his part, Raiskin hopes Hoebig will also miss the WSO enough to come back after her 'greatly deserved' year away. 'I think she still has a lot of years of great music and wisdom and knowledge in her, and it will be invaluable to have her back in the orchestra once again.' — with file from Conrad Sweatman Gratitude for gifts shared To everything there is a season, but for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's long-serving concertmaster Gwen Hoebig, there have been an astonishing 37. Revered as one of Canada's top violinists, the Vancouver-born artist lauded by WSO music director Daniel Raiskin as a 'quiet force' is notably only the fourth concertmaster in the 77-year-old organization's history. She has steadfastly set a standard of excellence since first being appointed to her position in 1987, providing a golden thread of continuity for nearly four decades. During these times of tectonic change, memories abound. I'll personally never forget witnessing Hoebig onstage during the earliest days of the now-Winnipeg New Music Festival, then led by the late, great maestro Bramwell Tovey. Their palpable rapport, mutual respect and sheer joy in making music together — which often included Tovey kibitzing with her onstage — resonated throughout every subsequent festival. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Hoebig has steadfastly set a standard of excellence since first being appointed to her position in 1987, Her solo performances are particularly memorable, including a breathtaking rendition of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending that capped the WSO's Manitoba Remembers: A COVID Elegy in April 2022. Another personal highlight is her equally soulful performance of Peteris Vasks' Lonely Angel at the 2019 new music festival, or Brahms's Double Concerto, performed with her cellist brother, Desmond Hoebig in 2007, among so many others. As an arts journalist, I've been privileged to interview Hoebig numerous times over the last 20 years for various publications, including a large-scale feature for Symphony magazine when the WSO appeared at the 2014 Spring for Music festival, held at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Hoebig was always open when speaking about her beloved WSO — or the two children she shares with pianist husband David Moroz, cellist daughter Juliana Moroz and violist son Alexander (Sasha) Moroz, all joining her onstage this weekend. Even more personally, my family will also forever owe a debt of gratitude to Hoebig for playing an instrumental role in establishing the Neil Harris Bursary, honouring my late father and former Free Press music critic, presented each year in perpetuity through the University of Winnipeg Foundation. Both Hoebig and Tovey so generously gifted us with their artistry as headliners for a fundraiser concert held in November 2006, with the bursary's latest prize awarded to a student in the creative arts just last month. As the orchestra begins its next grand chapter with Karl Stobbe as its newest concertmaster, there is solace in the fact that this great Canadian artist will still continue to perform with the Winnipeg Chamber Music Society. She's also assured she'll be in the house this fall to cheer on the WSO, and may even be back on its stage in due course as a violin section player, seated among the colleagues she has often described as a musical family. Until then, the biggest bravo, and thank you for your sublime artistry, Gwen. You have left a legacy and shall never be forgotten. — Holly Harris Jen Zoratti Columnist Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen. Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press 's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press 's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
