I've got to say I'm utterly and completely impressed by the sheer magnitude of cultural events coming out of Winnipeg. There's the Beckett Festival, the venerable Plug-In Gallery and their bid to send a couple of Canadian multimedia wunder kids to the 2001 Biennelle (that's a story for a later column), and now an exciting new Canadian work is part of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's New Music Festival.

The topic of the piece isn't something that you'd think would be married with music. It's the David Milgaard story. Most Canadians are aware of this shameful bit of our national legal history. Milgaard spent 23 years in jail for the murder of Gail Miller, a crime he didn't commit. His mother refused to give up. She fought relentlessly for his release. The new work is by Diana McIntosh, an acclaimed Winnipeg composer and performer. It's called Through the Valley: Milgaard.

Diana McIntosh uses Joyce Milgaard's words to tell the story. "She based the text on Milgaard's book, A Mother's Story, and on extensive conversations with the author." McIntosh is no stranger to this material. She and Joyce Milgaard have been close pals for more than 25 years.

Through the Valley: Milgaard is about more than the son's battle for freedom. It's about the transformative effects this struggle had on his mother's own personality. Mrs. Milgaard "admits she was selfish and arrogant before she became involved in the fight to free David from prison. She now works as a spiritual healer and with prisoners and refugee groups." McIntosh claims "That's really what the piece is about. It's really about Joyce and the change that this nightmare of 23 years made on Joyce, and I wanted the music to reflect that change."

This work is just one of nine exciting nights being performed at The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's New Music. The WSO "presents new, groundbreaking works by composers of our time, many in their world premiere performances." It's an impressive sked that includes multidisciplinary contributions from all kinds of Winnipeg artists, including Wanda Koop on Thursday night. Check out the full sked: