A variety of semi-professional and amateur orchestras existed in Winnipeg from as early as 1880 when the first Philharmonic Society on the prairies was established by Capt W.N. Kennedy. Between then and 1947 orchestras in Winnipeg included a Winnipeg Orchestral Society, a Men’s Musical Club and Women’s Musical Club, a Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Choral and Orchestral Society, the Winnipeg Orchestra, another Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Choir, a Summer Symphony Orchestra, and at least a dozen others. In 1944 the Winnipeg Civic Music League was organized, made up of at least 20 of these pre-existing organizations. The league established a joint stock company, which was officially incorporated in the Province of Manitoba on February 13, 1947 as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Its first concert to an audience of 3,000 was on December 16, 1948, in the Civic Auditorium and conducted by Walter Kaufmann.

In 1954, the CBC began broadcasting portions of WSO concerts. In 1958, Kaufmann was succeeded by Canadian conductor Victor Feldbrill and on April 4, 1968 the WSO moved into its present home in the Manitoba Centennial Concert Hall. That same year, George Cleve became the symphony’s third Music Director.

The WSO appointed Piero Gamba in 1971 who served to the fall of 1980, when the WSO faced a major financial crisis. The Board of Directors resigned their positions and asked the Provicincial Government to appoint an interim group of Trustees, who ran the orchestra for a year while the organization was restructured and new operational and artistic leadership was hired. In 1981 a new volunteer Board of Directors was established.

At the beginning of the 1983-84 season, Japanese conductor Kazuhiro Koizumi started the first of six years with the symphony. During that time, the WSO subscriber base rose to more than 10,000 patrons.

Music Director Bramwell Tovey (1989 to 2001) and the WSO’s first composer in residence, Glenn Buhr created the New Music Festival in January 1992, with substantial support from DuMaurier Arts Foundation. Randolph Peters became Composer-in-Residence in 1996, and in 2002 was succeeded by T. Patrick Carrabre. In March 2007, Carrabre leaves the WSO to become a new CBC Radio 2 weekend host of a contemporary music program.

In 1996-97 the WSO also hired its first Conductor-in-Residence, Canadian conductor Rosemary Thomson. In September 1999, Toronto-born Michael Hall assumed the role. In 2006 Japanese-American conductor Rei Hotoda joined the WSO.

Also in 2006 German-born Alexander Mickelthwate was appointed as Music Director of the WSO. Mickelthwate also holds the position of Assistant Conductor with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra, and has connections with most major North American orchestras; this season is his debut with the New York Philharmonic. Prior to him, Russian-born conductor Andrey Boreyko held the position of Music Director of the WSO from May 2001 on through to May 2006.

While the orchestra regularly tours rural communities in southern Manitoba, in 2004 the WSO’s Northern Tour included The Pas, Thompson, Flin Flon, Gillam and Churchill. During the day the orchestra was broken down into several outreach groups and conducted school workshops in each community to children of all ages.

Executive Directors of the orchestra have been James Henderson 1949-54, Lawrence Davis 1954-6, Stirling Dorrance 1956-8, Kent Hurley 1958-66, James Emde 1966-7, Leonard David Stone 1967-78, Mark Walker 1978-9, Tony D'Amato 1979-80, and Jack Mills 1980-5, succeeded by Max Tapper, who managed the company for more than a decade. Since that time, the top administrative position has been filled by more than a dozen people, with the turnover both the result and cause of financial challenges. In July 2006, Dr. Dale J. Lonis accepted the position of Executive Director. An experienced administrator with a strong community reputation and orchestrsal experience, Lonis has since reorganized the administrative offices and rebuilt the orchestra’s staff, has initiated governance renewal at the board level, and has a goal of reconnecting the WSO with its community of concert-goers and supporters.

The WSO will celebrate its 60th anniversary durring its 2007-2008 concert season.