A former Dauphin resident is set to experience the thrill of a lifetime when his work is performed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO), this weekend.

Nic Bray, who was born in Winnipeg and moved to Dauphin with his parents when he was just two weeks old, recently won the 2025 Emerging Composers Competition presented by the Prairie Chapter of the Canadian Music Centre.

The competition is for composers from the prairie provinces to showcase their works for WSO and, as a result, Bray’s piece, titled “Spruce”, will be performed at this year’s Winnipeg New Music Festival, Jan. 25.

Bray was encouraged to enter the competition by a friend who was a past winner of the competition.

“I applied for it for a few years and didn’t succeed. And then this past year, I was fortunate to get the opportunity to be able to work with the WSO now,” he said.

Bray admitted to shedding a few tears when he learned he had won, feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

“And just excitement for the prospect of that. I’ve been trying to really having that as a goal for the last three or four years, working towards wanting to write for an orchestra,” he said.

“And to have that happen with such a wonderful orchestra that I’ve admired so dearly for the past few years, as well, is certainly the opportunity of a lifetime. And a treat, to say the least.”

“Spruce” was inspired by what Bray called a back country camping trip with his partner in 2023. One day, while they were in Riding Mountain National Park, they were laying in a hammock looking up at the spruce trees holding them up.

“And it was just kind of striking to me the simultaneous might and strength, but also that beauty of it, as well. That kind of grandeur and elegance was really kind of striking to me and that juxtaposition of that kind of this immense power, this huge towering figure, but the delicate beauty that I think it does possess, as well,” he said.

“So that juxtaposition was the guiding force behind the musical ideas with ‘Spruce’.”

Bray got out of the hammock and scrawled a formal conception of the work in the dirt. When he got home, Bray wrote “Spruce” based upon that concept.

Bray has been a huge admirer of WSO for many years and has attended many of their performances and has even tried to get to know some of the musicians.

“And it’s such a privilege to work with such a wonderful community of people like there is with the WSO. So that kind of personal aspect of, not only getting to work with an orchestra, but this one who is local to us in Manitoba. And to be able to work with some wonderful people that I so admire is a great, great privilege and it means a lot to me personally,” he said.

Winning the competition has served as a launching pad when it comes to Bray’s career. He is currently working on the score for a horror film with Manitoba Film and Music and the Grand Illusion Film Studio called “Princess and the Dragon.”

Bray is also working on a commission out of the University of Toronto and a number of other things that are falling into place, which will allow him to be able to write music for a living.

Bray is also currently working towards his Masters degree in composition at Brandon University.

“It’s a lot at once. It’s a very transitionary period. So with my first film, first commission, there’s not a lot I want to be saying no to, of course. But it’s certainly a lot to balance. But it’s a very fortunate position I am in to have those opportunities to balance, for sure,” he said.

While he is looking forward to the WSO performance of his work, Bray said it is hard to imagine what he will be feeling in that moment.

“Because it’s still surreal to me that it is happening. But I think once we get into that rehearsal hall and once we start working on that and they start playing the piece, I think really it will be in that moment that it comes fully real for me,” he said.

“But I can only imagine and predict that it will be one of the most emotionally impactful and overwhelming moments in my life so far.”

Bray will have the support of friends and family who will be in attendance, as well as students from Brandon University.

“To have all of that support and community is really, I think, what is going to make that moment even stronger, being able to be surrounded by all these loved ones,” he said.