Bramwell Tovey
Bramwell Tovey, is a British conductor and composer. Tovey was educated at Ilford County High School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London, his formal music education was as a composer. Whilst at the Royal Academy, he became a tuba player, studying with John Fletcher. During his student years he conducted several broadcasts on the BBC, played in the London Symphony Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival. Tovey was appointed a staff conductor of London Festival Ballet at the age of 22, working with Massine on a production of Parade, Hynd on Nutcracker and Sanguine Fan and with Nureyev on Romeo and Juliet. In 1978 he became Music Director of Scottish Ballet, conducting Peter Darrell's major ballets including Cheri and Five Rückert Songs. From 1984 to 1988 he was Principal Conductor of Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. During this period he conducted several British orchestras and appeared as pianist in Elite Syncopations. Tovey conducted the first season of the revived D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1988.
Between 1989 and 2001, he was the music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, was instrumental in establishing the city's annual New Music Festival, which began in 1992. Tovey became music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in September 2000, his initial contract was renewed in December 2004, extended again in January 2010 to 2015. In November 2013, the VSO announced the further extension of Tovey's contract through the 2017-2018 season, the scheduled conclusion of his music directorship of the VSO at that time. Tovey is scheduled to take the title of VSO music director emeritus with the 2018-2019 season, the VSO's 100th season. In December 2009, Tovey and the VSO rejected an invitation to play at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver, after the Vancouver Organizing Committee requested that the orchestra pre-record music that other musicians and a different conductor would mime to at the televised event. Tovey remarked that the plan was "dishonest" and "fraudulent."
Tovey was music director of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra from 2002 to 2006. During which time he led it on tours to the eastern United States. In November 2017, the BBC Concert Orchestra announced the appointment of Tovey as its next principal conductor, effective January 2018, with an initial contract of 5 years. Tovey conducted the "Summertime Classics" series of concerts with the New York Philharmonic since the inception of the series in the summer of 2004, after his 2001 subscription debut with the orchestra, through the conclusion of the series in 2014. Tovey was appointed Artistic Director of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and conducted his first course in April 2006, he has a long-standing affiliation with the Fodens Brass Band and conducted a CD of his compositions with the Foden's Band, released in May 2009. In March 2008, Tovey was named the next principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Hollywood Bowl summer concerts. Tovey has become known as a composer.
His compositions include a Cello Concerto, a work for a large choir and brass band,'Requiem for a Charred Skull', which in 2003 was awarded a Juno for Classical Composition of the Year. Tovey composed the film score, recorded by the VSO, for Richard Bell's film Eighteen; the full score was released on iTunes. Tovey was nominated for a Genie Award, in tandem with Bell, for a song in the film called "In a Heartbeat", performed by Thea Gill. On commission from the 2005 British Open Brass Band Championship, Tovey composed'The Night to Sing' as the test piece, inspired by the celebrations of VE Day, 1945. In 2007, Calgary Opera commissioned a new opera from Tovey, titled The Inventor and premiered by Calgary Opera in January 2011. Tovey has been involved with numerous radio programs related to music, he conducted Cinderella with Scottish Ballet for ITV and Daphnis et Chloé for Channel 4 and two television programmes with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He has been the recipient of four honorary doctorates - Winnipeg, Kwantlen University College and the University of British Columbia.
He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, England. In October 2016, Tovey made his stage debut in an opera, taking the speaking role of The Impresario in the City Opera of Vancouver premiere of the comedy'The Lost Operas of Mozart' at Christ Church Cathedral. In September 2017, Tovey took up the post of Director of Orchestral Activities at the Boston University School of Music. Tovey has been married twice, his first marriage, which ended in divorce, produced a son, former guitarist for the now split-up metal band Rise To Remain. He and his second wife, have two daughters. Music of Canada List of Canadian composers Official Bramwell Tovey website Biography Vancouver Symphony Orchestra AllMusic.com biography of Bramwell Tovey Biography from Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra Agency Biography
Orchestra
An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as the violin, viola and double bass, brass instruments such as the horn, trumpet and tuba, woodwinds such as the flute, oboe and bassoon, percussion instruments such as the timpani, bass drum, snare drum and cymbals, each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments. A full-size orchestra may sometimes be called philharmonic orchestra; the actual number of musicians employed in a given performance may vary from seventy to over one hundred musicians, depending on the work being played and the size of the venue. The term chamber orchestra refers to smaller-sized ensembles of about fifty musicians or fewer. Orchestras that specialize in the Baroque music of, for example, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, or Classical repertoire, such as that of Haydn and Mozart, tend to be smaller than orchestras performing a Romantic music repertoire, such as the symphonies of Johannes Brahms.
The typical orchestra grew in size throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a peak with the large orchestras called for in the works of Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler. Orchestras are led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of the hands and arms made easier for the musicians to see by use of a conductor's baton; the conductor sets the tempo and shapes the sound of the ensemble. The conductor prepares the orchestra by leading rehearsals before the public concert, in which the conductor provides instructions to the musicians on their interpretation of the music being performed; the leader of the first violin section called the concertmaster plays an important role in leading the musicians. In the Baroque music era, orchestras were led by the concertmaster or by a chord-playing musician performing the basso continuo parts on a harpsichord or pipe organ, a tradition that some 20th century and 21st century early music ensembles continue. Orchestras play a wide range of repertoire, including symphonies and ballet overtures, concertos for solo instruments, as pit ensembles for operas and some types of musical theatre.
Amateur orchestras include those made up of students from an elementary school or a high school, youth orchestras, community orchestras. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ὀρχήστρα, the name for the area in front of a stage in ancient Greek theatre reserved for the Greek chorus; the typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of related musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass and strings. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes be grouped into a fifth section such as a keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and electric and electronic instruments; the orchestra, depending on the size, contains all of the standard instruments in each group. In the history of the orchestra, its instrumentation has been expanded over time agreed to have been standardized by the classical period and Ludwig van Beethoven's influence on the classical model. In the 20th and 21st century, new repertory demands expanded the instrumentation of the orchestra, resulting in a flexible use of the classical-model instruments and newly developed electric and electronic instruments in various combinations.
The terms symphony orchestra and philharmonic orchestra may be used to distinguish different ensembles from the same locality, such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A symphony orchestra will have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over a hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the venue. Chamber orchestra refers to smaller-sized ensembles; the term concert orchestra may be used, as in the BBC Concert Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The so-called "standard complement" of doubled winds and brass in the orchestra from the first half of the 19th century is attributed to the forces called for by Beethoven; the composer's instrumentation always included paired flutes, clarinets, bassoons and trumpets. The exceptions to this are his Symphony No. 4, Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto No. 4, which each specify a single flute. Beethoven calculated the expansion of this particular timbral "palette" in Symphonies 3, 5, 6, 9 for an innovative effect.
The third horn in the "Eroica" Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility, but the effect of "choral" brass in the Trio movement. Piccolo and trombones add to the triumphal finale of his Symphony No. 5. A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver the effect of storm and sunshine in the Sixth known as the Pastoral Symphony; the Ninth asks for a second pair of horns, for reasons similar to the "Eroica".
Manitoba
Manitoba is a province at the longitudinal centre of Canada. It is considered one of the three prairie provinces and is Canada's fifth-most populous province with its estimated 1.3 million people. Manitoba covers 649,950 square kilometres with a varied landscape, stretching from the northern oceanic coastline to the southern border with the United States; the province is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territories of Nunavut to the north, Northwest Territories to the northwest, the U. S. states of North Minnesota to the south. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited. In the late 17th century, fur traders arrived on two major river systems, what is now called the Nelson in northern Manitoba and in the southeast along the Winnipeg River system. A Royal Charter in 1670 granted all the lands draining into Hudson's Bay to the British company and they administered trade in what was called Rupert's Land. During the next 200 years, communities continued to grow and evolve, with a significant settlement of Michif in what is now Winnipeg.
The assertion of Métis identity and self-rule culminated in negotiations for the creation of the province of Manitoba. There are many factors that led to an armed uprising of the Métis people against the Government of Canada, a conflict known as the Red River Rebellion aka Resistance; the resolution of the assertion of the right to representation led to the Parliament of Canada passing the Manitoba Act in 1870 that created the province. Manitoba's capital and largest city, Winnipeg, is the eighth-largest census metropolitan area in Canada. Other census agglomerations in the province are Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Thompson; the name Manitoba is believed to be derived from the Ojibwe or Assiniboine languages. The name derives from Cree manitou-wapow or Ojibwa manidoobaa, both meaning "straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit", a place referring to what are now called The Narrows in the centre of Lake Manitoba, it may be from the Assiniboine for "Lake of the Prairie". The lake was known to French explorers as Lac des Prairies.
Thomas Spence chose the name to refer to a new republic he proposed for the area south of the lake. Métis leader Louis Riel chose the name, it was accepted in Ottawa under the Manitoba Act of 1870. Manitoba is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territories of Nunavut to the north, the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south; the province meets the Northwest Territories at the four corners quadripoint to the extreme northwest, though surveys have not been completed and laws are unclear about the exact location of the Nunavut–NWT boundary. Manitoba adjoins Hudson Bay to the northeast, is the only prairie province to have a saltwater coastline; the Port of Churchill is Canada's only Arctic deep-water port. Lake Winnipeg is the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Hudson Bay is the world's second-largest bay by area. Manitoba is at the heart of the giant Hudson Bay watershed, once known as Rupert's Land, it was a vital area of the Hudson's Bay Company, with many rivers and lakes that provided excellent opportunities for the lucrative fur trade.
The province has a saltwater coastline bordering Hudson Bay and more than 110,000 lakes, covering 15.6 percent or 101,593 square kilometres of its surface area. Manitoba's major lakes are Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, Lake Winnipeg, the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world; some traditional Native lands and boreal forest on Lake Winnipeg's east side are a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Manitoba is at the centre of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, with a high volume of the water draining into Lake Winnipeg and north down the Nelson River into Hudson Bay; this basin's rivers reach far west to the mountains, far south into the United States, east into Ontario. Major watercourses include the Red, Nelson, Hayes and Churchill rivers. Most of Manitoba's inhabited south has developed in the prehistoric bed of Glacial Lake Agassiz; this region the Red River Valley, is flat and fertile. Baldy Mountain is the province's highest point at 832 metres above sea level, the Hudson Bay coast is the lowest at sea level.
Riding Mountain, the Pembina Hills, Sandilands Provincial Forest, the Canadian Shield are upland regions. Much of the province's sparsely inhabited north and east lie on the irregular granite Canadian Shield, including Whiteshell and Nopiming Provincial Parks. Extensive agriculture is found only in the province's southern areas, although there is grain farming in the Carrot Valley Region; the most common agricultural activity is cattle husbandry, followed by assorted grains and oilseed. Around 12 percent of Canada's farmland is in Manitoba. Manitoba has an extreme continental climate. Temperatures and precipitation decrease from south to north and increase from east to west. Manitoba is far from the moderating large bodies of water; because of the flat landscape, it is exposed to cold Arctic high-pressure air masses from the northwest during January and February. In the summer, air masses sometimes come out of the Southern United States, as warm humid air is drawn northward from the Gulf of Mexico.
Temperatures exceed 30 °C numerous times each summer, the combination of heat and humidity can bring the humidex value to the mid-40s. Carman, Manitoba recorded the second-highest humidex in Canada in 2007, with
Manitoba Opera
Manitoba Opera is an opera company in Winnipeg, Manitoba, founded in 1969. Its first production was a concert version of Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore in 1972. Manitoba Opera is one of several western Canadian opera companies that flourished under the so-called "father of opera in Western Canada," Irving Guttman, he has been instrumental in the development of many young Canadian singers, including Winnipeg native Tracy Dahl and Winkler's Phillip Ens. Both have gone on to international careers. Live music for Manitoba Opera productions is provided by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. In November 2007, the company staged its first original production, Transit of Venus, composed by Victor Davies, with a libretto by Maureen Hunter, based on her stage play of the same name. Manitoba Opera is based at the Centennial Concert Hall. Larry Desrochers has been the General Director since November 2000. Official website
Royal Winnipeg Ballet
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is one of the world's premier dance companies. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America, it was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Betty Farrally. The name was changed to the "Winnipeg Ballet" in 1941 and the company began touring Canada in 1945. In 1948, with the initiative of the Winnipeg Ballet, the Canadian Ballet Festival was formed; the Royal Winnipeg Ballet was granted its royal title in 1953, the first granted under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. It completed its first American tour in 1954. In June that year the RWB's rented premises were devastated by fire. Conductor Eric Wild served as the company's music director from 1955 to 1962; the company solidified its reputation under the artistic directorship of Saskatchewan-born Arnold Spohr from 1958 to 1988. Spohr, who first joined the company as a dancer in 1945, during his tenure maintained a strong focus on developing Canadian talent, and, at the same time, he developed the RWB as an international touring company, engaged with choreographers and dancers from around the world to expand the ballet.
Spohr was succeeded by RWB principal dancer Henny Jurriëns, assistant to Dutch National Ballet director Rudi van Dantzig. Jurriëns, died in a car accident in April 1989. In 1990 John Meehan from American Ballet Theatre became artistic director but left in 1993 following the company's persistent financial difficulties. William Whitener the artistic director of Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, was chosen to succeed Meehan. Continuing financial problems and dancer "unrest", Whitener was released in less than two years later. André Lewis was appointed in 1996 as artistic director. Lewis' decades-long association with the RWB began in 1975 when he was accepted into the Professional Division at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. In 1979, he was joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company and performed as a dancer with the RWB until 1990. Lewis' roles include: Gunther in Nutcracker. Company Music Director and Conductor is Tad Biernacki and Senior Ballet Master is Johnny W. Chang; the dancer most associated with the RWB has been Evelyn Hart.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1956, Hart made her professional debut with the RWB in 1976. In 1980, she was awarded the bronze medal at the World Ballet Concours in Japan, the gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition where she received the Exceptional Artistic Achievement Award. Both medals were awarded for her performance of Belong pas de deux, created by internationally acclaimed choreographer Norbert Vesak as part of his work What To Do Till the Messiah Comes. Hart was awarded the Order of Canada in 1983, she left the RWB in 2005. David Peregrine, Hart's long-time partner, joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as a member of the corps in 1975 and became a soloist three years and principal dancer in 1980. Peregrine was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 1986. Other Honorable mentions for dancers include principal Laura Graham, awarded a Silver medal at the 14th Varna International Ballet Competition in 1990, her team included principal Steven Hyde, receiving a best non-competing partner honor, soloist Mark Godden receiving best new choreography for'Myth'.
Principal dancer Suzanne Rubio followed in 1991 winning a Bronze medal at the 2nd Helsinki International Ballet Competition. In 1992, Gweneth Lloyd, co-founder of the company, became the first recipient of the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement; the company spends 20 or more weeks a year on the road, presenting more than 100 performances every year in both large and small centres. The company mounts four productions a year in Winnipeg's performing arts venue, the Centennial Concert Hall; the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School is composed of two divisions and Professional, is home to the more than 1,500 students annually. The current building opened in January 1988, features 12 spacious, sprung-floor studios, a 224-seat performance space; the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Recreational Division is Winnipeg's largest dance school that provides high quality training and instruction to students age 3+ in various disciplines including Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical/Contemporary, Musical Theatre, Creative Movement and Hip Hop.
The Recreational Division features an audition-only competitive Dance Ensemble program for high level Junior to Senior students. The school offers an Intensive Training Program for students who have shown ability and dedication for more intense, specialized training in classical ballet. In this program, numerous ballet classes are supported with additional classes such as pointe, RWB School Dance Ensemble performance groups and modern. Students are prepared using the Cecchetti method for classical ballet exams. Alumni have gone onto careers on Broadway, Rainbow Stage and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and have continued their education with Arts Umbrella, Goh Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Boston Conservatory and the School of Contemporary Dancers. Students work with RWB School Artistic faculty, including award-winning choreographers, perform new works in festivals and competitions; the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Professional Division is an exclusive, full-time classical ballet training program for students in grades 6 through 12.
The school includes 72 young dancers, selected from around the worl
Piero Gamba
Piero Gamba called Pierino Gamba, is an Italian orchestral conductor and pianist. Gamba came to attention as a child prodigy, he won the Arnold Bax Memorial Medal in 1962. He was, among others, the musical director and conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1971 till 1980, he was the chief conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Australia from 1983 to 1986, conducted many other Australian orchestras during this time. He was the musical director and conductor of the SODRE National Symphonic Orchestra of Uruguay from 1994 till 1995 as well as from 2001 till 2004. Piero Gamba lives in New York City, pursuing his career and teaching orchestra conducting. During his long career of some seventy years he has worked with many artists, who have performed under his direction. Amongst them: Luciano Pavarotti, Arthur Rubinstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Roberta Peters, Maureen Forrester, Van Cliburn, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Gary Graffman, Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, Julius Katchen, Richard Tucker, Zara Nelsova, Ida Haendel, Ruggiero Ricci, Alfredo Campoli, Michael Rabin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Henryk Szeryng, Camila Wicks, Dylana Jenson, Jorge Bolet, Itzhak Perlman, Byron Janis, Pierre de Groote, Philip Levy, Ramon Parcells, Ted Oien, Doug Bairstow, Igor Oistrach, Stefan Askenase, Arthur Polson, Sequeira Costa, Simon O'Neill, Peter Schaffer, Lionel Bowman, Marek Jablonski, Pierre Fournier, Carlos Montoya, Moira Birks, Jeanette Kearney, Robert Merrill, Veronica Tyler, Raymond Michalski, Krysztof Jablonski, Claude Hauri, Sandra Silvera, Maurice André, Jeremy Menuhin, Jorge Risi, José Greco, Peter Ustinov, Philip Newman, Eugene Istomin, György Sándor, Raquel Boldorini, Fernando Hasaj, Dennis Brain, Daniel Barenboim, Dame Malvina Major, Harry Belafonte, Maite Berrueta, Zina Schift, Rita Contino, Jan Pierce, Jeanne-Marie Darré, Fernando Barabino, John Ogdon, Mario Carbotta, Nibya Marino, Jacinto Gimbernard, Cecile Licad, Jaime Bolipata, Bruno Leonardo Gelber, Hans Lehman, Magda Longari, Nana Lorca, Morley Meredith, Oxana Jablonskaya, Alexander Uninsky, Hilda Waldeland, Victor Addiego, John Williams, Betty Allen, John McCollum, Santiago Garmendia, Janis Eckhart, Luis Giron May, José Iturbi, Santiago Cervera, Emanuel Ax, Jeffrey Siegel, Martino Tirimo, Gerardo Marandino, Vincent Frittelli, Raffaela Acella, Orlando Sisalema, Jonathan Floril, Nina Milkina, Esteban Sánchez, Alejandro Barletta, Aldo Ciccolini, William Molina, Roselyn Tucker V. Santigo Garmendia, Sergio Caram, Luis Pomi, Marisa Robles, Graciela Lassner, Alicia Gabriela Martinez, Uto Ughi, Juan Bello, Andrea Griminelli, Eduardo Alfonso, Andre Wolf, Luz del Alba Rubio, Luis Batlle, Philippe Entremont, Leopoldo Querol, Eduardo Fernandez, Rafael Martinez, Abel Mus, Endre Wolf, Xenia Prochorova, Ivan Perez, Eddy Marcano, Frederico Aldao, Eiko Senda, Maria Lujan Mirabelli, Ariel Cazes, Nina Beilina, Alexander Moutouzkine, Shura Cherkassky, Jan Smeterlin, Elida Gencarelli, Anabel Garcia del Castillo, Peter Katin, Pascual Camps, José Cubiles, Khristian Benitez, Jesus Hernandez, Jorge Risi, Stanley Weiner, Michael Ponti, Marjorie Mitchell, Ieuan Jones en Jame Peters.
Piero Gamba is Honorary Conductor for Life of the following orchestras: Philharmonia Antwerpen Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid Orquesta Filarmonica Barcelona Orquesta da Camara Barcelona Orquesta A. P. O. Buenos Aires Orquesta A. U. D. E. M. Montevideo Asociacion Coral Porto. Piero Gamba was one of the founders of Symphonicum Europae Foundation, an institution whose aim is to promote greater harmony of mankind through the arts. Piero Gamba has recorded with the following orchestras: London Symphony Orchestra and the New Philharmonia, The Royal Danish Orchestra, The Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, The Symphonicum Europae Orchestra; these are a few of his available recordings: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3-5, Piero Gamba conducts the London Symphony Orchestra, Julius Katchen Beethoven: The Piano Concertos. Video of Pierino Gamba conducting an orchestra aged 11 in 1947
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. Centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, it is near the longitudinal centre of North America 110 kilometres north of the Canada–United States border; the city is named after the nearby Lake Winnipeg. The region was a trading centre for aboriginal peoples long before the arrival of Europeans. French traders built the first fort on the site in 1738. A settlement was founded by the Selkirk settlers of the Red River Colony in 1812, the nucleus of, incorporated as the City of Winnipeg in 1873; as of 2011, Winnipeg is the seventh most populated municipality in Canada. Being far inland, the local climate is seasonal by Canadian standards with average January lows of around −21 °C and average July highs of 26 °C. Known as the "Gateway to the West", Winnipeg is a railway and transportation hub with a diversified economy; this multicultural city hosts numerous annual festivals, including the Festival du Voyageur, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Jazz Winnipeg Festival, the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, Folklorama.
Winnipeg was the first Canadian host of the Pan American Games. It is home to several professional sports franchises, including the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Winnipeg Jets, Manitoba Moose, Valour FC, the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Winnipeg lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine and the Red River of the North, a location now known as "The Forks"; this point was at the crossroads of canoe routes travelled by First Nations before European contact. Winnipeg is named after nearby Lake Winnipeg. Evidence provided by archaeology, rock art and oral history indicates that native peoples used the area in prehistoric times for camping, hunting, tool making, trading and, farther north, for agriculture. Estimates of the date of first settlement in this area range from 11,500 years ago for a site southwest of the present city to 6,000 years ago at The Forks. In 1805, Canadian colonists observed First Nations peoples engaged in farming activity along the Red River; the practice expanded, driven by the demand by traders for provisions.
The rivers provided an extensive transportation network linking northern First Peoples with those to the south along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The Ojibwe made some of the first maps on birch bark, which helped fur traders navigate the waterways of the area. Sieur de La Vérendrye built the first fur trading post on the site in 1738, called Fort Rouge. French trading continued at this site for several decades before the arrival of the British Hudson's Bay Company after France ceded the territory following its defeat in the Seven Years' War. Many French men who were trappers married First Nations women, they developed as an ethnicity known as the Métis because of sharing a traditional culture. Lord Selkirk was involved with the first permanent settlement, the purchase of land from the Hudson's Bay Company, a survey of river lots in the early 19th century; the North West Company built Fort Gibraltar in 1809, the Hudson's Bay Company built Fort Douglas in 1812, both in the area of present-day Winnipeg.
The two companies competed fiercely over trade. The Métis and Lord Selkirk's settlers fought at the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816. In 1821, the Hudson's Bay and North West Companies merged. Fort Gibraltar was renamed Fort Garry in 1822 and became the leading post in the region for the Hudson's Bay Company. A flood destroyed the fort in 1826 and it was not rebuilt until 1835. A rebuilt section of the fort, consisting of the front gate and a section of the wall, is near the modern-day corner of Main Street and Broadway Avenue in downtown Winnipeg. In 1869–70, present-day Winnipeg was the site of the Red River Rebellion, a conflict between the local provisional government of Métis, led by Louis Riel, newcomers from eastern Canada. General Garnet Wolseley was sent to put down the uprising; the Manitoba Act of 1870 made Manitoba the fifth province of the three-year-old Canadian Confederation. Treaty 1, which encompassed the city and much of the surrounding area, was signed on 3 August 1871 by representatives of the Crown and local Indigenous groups, comprising the Brokenhead Ojibway, Long Plain, Roseau River Anishinabe, Sandy Bay and Swan Lake communities.
On 8 November 1873, Winnipeg was incorporated with the Selkirk settlement as its nucleus. Métis legislator and interpreter James McKay named the city. Winnipeg's mandate was to govern and provide municipal services to citizens attracted to trade expansion between Upper Fort Garry / Lower Fort Garry and Saint Paul, Minnesota. Winnipeg developed after the coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1881; the railway divided the North End, which housed Eastern Europeans, from the richer Anglo-Saxon southern part of the city. It contributed to a demographic shift beginning shortly after Confederation that saw the francophone population decrease from a majority to a small minority group; this shift resulted in Premier Thomas Greenway controversially ending legislative bilingualism and removing funding for French Catholic Schools in 1890. By 1911, Winnipeg was Canada's third-largest city. However, the city faced financial difficulty when the Panama Canal opened in 1914; the canal reduced reliance on Canada's rail system for international trade.
