CMU Faculty

Neil Weisensel he/him

Associate Professor of Music

Website: www.neilmusic.com

Composer and conductor Neil Weisensel is one of the most frequently-performed and prolific opera composers in Canada. A veteran opera composer, his background is white settler with French/German ancestry.  Well-versed in a multiplicity of styles and genres, Neil has also written music for theatre productions, television, film, and multi-media. His most recent project was a new opera based on the life of Louis Riel and the Métis people, entitled Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North, supported by three major Canada Council grants and a SSHRC grant. Based on a libretto by Métis poet and scholar Dr. Suzanne Steele,  Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North premiered in a full production by Manitoba Opera and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in November 2023, conducted by the composer. Vancouver Opera premiered his opera Stickboy (libretto by internationally-recognized spoken word poet Shane Koyczan) in October of 2014, and went on to tour BC. Weisensel’s six other operas (Gisela in her Bathtub, City Workers in Love, The Bachelor Farmers of the Apocalypse, Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock, The Master’s Stroke and Secret Service) have seen 214 total performances across Canada and the US. His incidental music for Vancouver's Arts Club Theatre production of the stage play It's A Wonderful Life continues to be in demand, most recently in Kansas and Wisconsin. Recent highlights include productions of City Workers in Love in Edmonton with OperaNUOVA and at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg , a production of Gisela in her Bathtub in Halifax, and a production of City Workers in Love at University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. The USA premiere of a new orchestral version of Gisela in her Bathtub took place at Kent State University in Ohio in March 2017. 

For 8 years Neil was Guest Conductor of the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting repertoire that included the Requiems of Mozart, Verdi, Fauré, John Rutter, and Duruflé along with other choral/orchestral works like Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Barber's Adagio.  Neil has been a conductor/music director for many professional ensembles including Vancouver New Music, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Little Opera Company, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Arts Club Theatre, University of Manitoba, and the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra. In Winnipeg, Neil co-directs World Village Gospel Choir, a 70-voice auditioned choir that sings Gospel and World Music, and SummerChör, a non-auditioned choir that performs choral masterpieces with orchestras in the summer

With his wife Rachel Landrecht, Neil co-composed and performed an original song, I Feel a Change Today,  for former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation in Vancouver. Neil also had an exclusive engagement performing solo piano at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. He and Rachel have provided keynote musical presentations for Oscar winner Al Gore and also for Justin Trudeau, and Neil's big band collaboration with superstar Michael Bublé earned him a Genie nomination.

Neil has received grants, fellowships, and commissions from The National Endowment for the Arts (U.S.), the Canada Council, Opera.ca, the Manitoba and BC Arts Councils, OPERA America, the Vancouver Opera Guild, and the Banff Centre. He holds advanced music degrees from UBC (Composition) and from the University of Manitoba, and is Assistant Teaching Professor at Canadian Mennonite University teaching Theory, Composition and Music Technology. Neil lives in Winnipeg, Canada with Rachel and daughter Miracle.

Areas of Teaching

Music Theory, Composition, Music Production, Songwriting, Orchestration

Education

BMus Piano Performance (University of Manitoba) MMus Composition (UBC)

Work in Detail

Teaching

2024 -  Associate Professor of Music (tenured), Chair of Music Dep't.

2020-2024: Assistant Teaching Professor (.75)

2018–2020: Instructor of Music – Canadian Mennonite University 

2015–2018: Sessional Instructor, Theory and Composition – Canadian Mennonite University 

2015: Guest Lecturer – University of British Columbia, University of Manitoba

Research

Selected Compositions

OPERA

Riel's Heart of the North – Canada Council New Chapter Commission, premiered in a full production by Manitoba Opera and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in November 2023, conducted by the composer

Stickboy – (Vancouver Opera commission and premiere) 90-min. opera for chamber orchestra, ensemble and pricipals: 12 performances

Secret Service – 80-min. tragi-comedy Fugue Theatre (Vancouver) commission (Kico Gonzales-Risso, libretto) 11 performances City Workers in Love – 75-min. comic chamber opera(Michael Cavanagh, libretto) 6 production, 39 performances

The Master's Stroke – 2 hour opera (Canada Council Commission)(Michael Cavanagh, libretto)Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock – (Stephen Leacock, book) 25-min. chamber opera The Bachelor Farmers of the Apocalypse – 65-min. chamber opera(Michael Cavanagh, libretto) 2 productions, 16 performances Gisela in her Bathtub- 17-min. comic chamber opera (Michael Cavanagh, libretto) 8 productions, 48 performances

ORCHESTRA

Victoria Symphony Orchestra – For the Children of Today, Change and 7 other arrangements for solo voice and orchestra

Victoria Symphony Orchestra Beat the Clock (premiRe)Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra - Lord of the Worlds (12-minute work for tenor soloist, choir and orchestra)

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra – Night Sequence (10-minute work for large orchestra) Vancouver Symphony Orchestra - Suite for Orchestra (from the opera Coup de Sifflet) (Georges Astalos, libretto)

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra – Various arrangements

CHAMBER MUSIC

Quartet # 1 – for String Quartet – workshopped and recorded by the Arditti String Quaret Thorax the Conqueror – for chamber orchestra and animated film (BC Arts Council Commission)

Concertino – 20-min. work for 2 pianos and percussion. (Manitoba Arts Council Commission)

Presence – 10-min. work for Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, choir, soloists

Meditation – 4-min. chamber orchestra work.

CHORAL

I Lift Up My Soul – SATB choir and piano

God of Resurrection – SATB choir and organ/brass quintet

Praise to the Lord – SATB choir a cappella

Lord Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace,

Thank You – SATB choir and soloist

Performance

 

Selected Operas/Concert Music Performances

2023 Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North – Manitoba Opera/Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (libretto: Dr. Suzanne Steele)

2023 City Workers in Love – East Tennessee University, Johnson City US

2023 Reconciliation Duets (collaboration with powwow singer Ray "Coco" Stevenson) – Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

2022 Tableaux for Organ Sarah Svendson, organist - Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto ON

2022 Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North (excerpts) - Harbourfront Centre, Toronto ON

2022 Incandescent – 10-min. Choral commission from Esprit de Choeur

2019  Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North (World Première) - Regina Symphony Orchestra

 2019 City Workers in Love – Canadian Mennonite University (Libretto: Michael Cavanagh)

2019 Benedictus – Winnipeg Singers (MB Arts Council commission)

2018 City Workers in Love - Opera Nuova, Edmonton AB

2018 It's a Wonderful Life (incidental music) – Greenleaf Performing Arts Centre, Kansas City, USA; Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre, USA

2018 Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock – Saskatoon Opera/Saskatoon Symphony (Libretto: Pamela Post/Rachel Landrecht)

2017 Gisela in her Bathtub - (World Première of orchestral version) Kent    State University, Ohio USA (Libretto: Michael Cavanagh)

2016 Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock - Little Opera Company (World       Première) Winnipeg MB

2016 Stickboy - (excerpts) OPERAmerica Conference, Montreal QC                                   (Libretto: Shane Koyczan)

2016 Gisela in her Bathtub - Flipside Opera, Winnipeg MB

2015 Stickboy - Vancouver Opera (60-min. touring version) BC

2015Gisela in her Bathtub - New England Conservatory of Music, Boston USA

2014 Stickboy - Vancouver Opera (World Première) Vancouver BC

2014 City Workers in Love, Gisela in her Bathtub - University of Western                         Ontario, London ON

2014 Gisela in her Bathtub - 9th Ward Opera Company of New Orleans,      USA

2013 Secret Service (Libretto Kico Gonzales-Riso) - Fugue Theatre           (World Premiere) Vancouver BC

2012 Gisela in her Bathtub - Halifax Summer Opera NS

2012 Gisela in her Bathtub, City Workers in Love - Wilfrid Laurier                  University, Kitchener-Waterloo ON

2003 Gisela in her Bathtub - The Little Chamber Music Series                      That Could, Vancouver BC

2001 The Master's Stroke (libretto Michael Cavanagh) - Universities of      Winnipeg and Manitoba (workshop)

 

Opera Production summary

Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North (Winnipeg) 3 performances (2023)

Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North (Regina) – 1 performance

Stickboy: 12 performances (Mainstage version), 52 performances (Touring)  Gisela in her Bathtub: 13 productions, 58 performances
City Workers in Love: 10 productions, 49 performances
The Bachelor Farmers of the Apocalypse: 2 productions, 16 performances         The Master's Stroke - 2 workshop performances
Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock - 8 performances                                        Secret Service - 11 performances
TOTAL OPERA PERFORMANCES: 230

Applied

Taught a studio of 12 Composition students in 2023/24

Community

World Village Gospel Choir (Founder, Co-Director) – 2012–present

SummerChör Community Choir – 2017–present

Minister of Music, Canadian Memorial United Church – 2000–2012

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