The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra teams with composer and multi-instrumentalist Sean Irvine for ‘Forgotten Stories Suite,’ a large-ensemble concept album amplifying the lived experiences of 2SLGBTQ+ individuals navigating identity, trauma, resilience, and healing. The record arrives Friday, February 6, 2026, via Chronograph Records as the WJO’s ninth album release, structured as a five-movement work with each movement introduced by poetic monologues and grounded in distinct personal narratives. Irvine composed the suite featuring vocalist Karly Epp and spoken-word narrator Quinn Greene, blending expansive orchestral jazz writing with lyrical vocals and evocative instrumental textures that move fluidly between intimacy and scale. Each movement invites the listener into a different portrait of stories often unheard yet profoundly universal, and Irvine says he wants the album to amplify voices of a community taking each day in stride while grappling for love and freedom, hoping listeners look deeply into these portraits the way they would walk through an art gallery.
Founded in 1997, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra stands as Canada’s first community-based, non-profit professional jazz orchestra and a cornerstone of Winnipeg’s cultural life under artistic director and conductor Dr. Richard Gillis. The WJO has earned international acclaim with DownBeat Magazine noting the ensemble builds on sturdy cornerstones of modern orchestral jazz and serves as a potent reminder of the wealth of talent north of the border. This nationally recognized, artist-driven ensemble commits to commissioning, performing, and recording ambitious new works, and ‘Forgotten Stories Suite’ pairs cinematic orchestration with deeply personal storytelling that creates space for empathy, reflection, and connection through music that refuses to let these voices remain forgotten.