Credit List – Neil Weisensel, Composer
FILM
2024 – Beginnings and Endings– Canadian Independent
2022 City of Soothsayers – feature-length doc
2013 The Patio – Canadian Independent
2012 Burn Down the Sky – Canadian Independent
2008 Hair of the Sasquatch – Canadian independent
2005 Firewall – (Orchestrator) – Warner Bros.
2003 Burial Society (Orchestrator)
2000 Here’s to Life (co-writer – Michael Buble) Genie nomination
1999 Tail Lights Fade – Canadian independent feature
THEATRE
2012 She Stoops To Conquer – Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver BC
2007 It’s a Wonderful Life – Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver BC
2006 School for Scandal – Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver BC
BIG BAND
1999 Dumb Ol’ Heart – (co-writer – Michael Buble)
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Acapulco
Assorted arrangements
ORCHESTRA
2003 Lord of the Worlds – 12 min. work for choir and orchestra
2001 Presence – 20 min. work for Vancouver Inter-cultural Orchestra
2000 Meditation – 4 min. chamber orchestra work.
1999 Night Sequence – 10 min. suite for large orchestra.
1997 Suite for Orchestra – from the opera Coup de Sifflet
TELEVISION
2007 Smallville (Season VI) – source music
2000 Madness to Miracles (CTV Sportsnet) – 60 min. documentary
Granite Ocean (Bravo!) – 6 min. dance video
Row for Gold (TSN) – 60 min. documentary
Two Teams, One Dream (TSN) – 60 min. documentary
1999 Everyday Workout (W Network)
MULTIMEDIA
2011 The Dolphin – Ocean Rescue (iPad game)
2000 Expo 2000 – (Hanover, Germany) German pavilion
Production of large-scale multi-media installations;
music and sound design for interactive video games
CHAMBER MUSIC
1998 String Quartet – 12. min. work, performed by Arditti Quartet.
1997 Concertino – 20 min. work for 2 pianos & percussion.
ANIMATION
2008 Running –Victoria Symphony Orchestra
2003 Thorax the Conqueror – 15-minute short/Dir. Dwayne Beaver
Awards, Commissions & Prizes
2017 Canada Council – New Chapter grant
2016/2017 – Manitoba Arts Council, Canada Council, Winnipeg Arts Council – Travel Grant
2014/2016 Winnipeg Arts Council – Project Grant
2011 The Banff Centre – Theatre Arts (Opera) Residency
2008 Victoria Symphony Orchestra – Reel Music filmscoring finalist
2004 The Banff Centre – Theatre Arts (Opera) Residency
2003 NEA/OPERA America – Artist Development Fellowship
2003 Vancouver Opera – Composer Workshop
2000 Genie Awards –Best Song nomination (with Michael Bublé)
2000 Canada Council for the Arts – Composer Commission
1999 BC Arts Council – Composer Commission Award
MEMBERSHIPS
SOCAN Foundation
Associate Member – Canadian Music Centre
Neil Weisensel
Composer and conductor Neil Weisensel, well-versed in a multiplicity of styles and genres, is one of the most frequently-performed and prolific composers in Canada. A veteran opera composer with French/German ancestry, he has composes music for film and television, theatre productions, and international multi-media installations. His latest project is 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. 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 in November 2023. 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 146 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 and Composition. Neil lives in Winnipeg, Canada with Rachel and daughter Miracle.
Work Samples
Praise & Reviews for Stickboy
PRODUCTION HISTORY
2023 Li Keur, Riel’s Heart of the North Manitoba Opera (libretto: 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, Winnipeg MB
2020 Benedictus – Winnipeg Singers, Winnipeg MB
2019 Li Keur, Riel’s Heart of the NorthRegina Symphony Orchestra (libretto: Suzanne Steele)
2019 – The Beatitudes (choral work) – Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival – Pop Up Concert series
2019 – City Workers in Love – Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg MB
2018 It’s a Wonderful Life (incidental music) – Greenleaf Performing Arts Centre, Kansas City, USA; Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre, USA
2018 – The Beatitudes Polycoro Choir, Winnipeg MB
2018 Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock – Saskatoon Opera/Saskatoon Symphony
2018 City Workers in Love – Opera NUOVA, Edmonton, Canada
2018 Gisela in her Bathtub – Eastern Washington University, Washington USA
2017 Gisela in her Bathtub – Kent State University School of Music, Ohio USA
2016 Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock (World Premiere) Little Opera Company, Winnipeg Canada
2016 Stickboy – Vancouver Opera in Schools (Shane Koyczan, libretto)
2016 Gisela in her Bathtub – Flipside Opera, Winnipeg, Canada
2015 Gisela in her Bathtub – New England Conservatory of Music, Boston USA
2014 Stickboy – Vancouver Opera (World Premiere)
2012 City Workers in Love, Gisela in her Bathtub– University of Western Ontario
2012 Gisela in her Bathtub – 9th Ward Opera Company of New Orleans, USA
2013 Secret Service – Fugue Theatre, Vancouver, Canada
2012 Gisela in her Bathtub – Halifax Summer Opera, Canada
2012 Gisela in her Bathtub, City Workers in Love – Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada
2001 The Master’s Stroke – Universities of Winnipeg/Manitoba, Canada
1999 Gisela in her Bathtub – Edmonton Opera, Canada
1997 Merry Christmas Stephen Leacock (workshop) – Vancouver, Canada
1996 The Bachelor Farmers of the Apocalypse – Vancouver and Victoria Fringe Festivals, Canada
1995 City Workers in Love – Edmonton Opera, Canada
1995 City Workers in Love, Gisela in her Bathtub – Vancouver and Victoria, Canada
1993 The Bachelor Farmers of the Apocalypse – Winnipeg, Canada (World Premiere)
1992 City Workers in Love – Winnipeg, Canada (World Premiere)
1992 Gisela in her Bathtub – Winnipeg, Canada
1991 Gisela in her Bathtub – Winnipeg, Canada (World Premiere)
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: 13productions, 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