Arts Briefs

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This article was published 21/06/2023 (845 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New mainstage for 2023 folk fest

The Winnipeg Folk Fest will debut a new mainstage for this year’s edition of the Birds Hill Provincial Park event.

The structure, which will be made of 75 per cent recycled materials, is expected to have better sight lines, lighting and sound, as well as video screens suspended on the wings of the stage.

The 2023 folk fest takes place July 6-9 with headliner performers including Fleet Foxes, William Prince, Rufus Wainwright, Emmylou Harris, Orville Peck, Vance Joy and the War on Drugs.

Portugal. The Man sets Burt date

Indie-rock hitmakers Portugal. The Man return to Winnipeg with a Nov. 11 concert at the Burton Cummings Theatre.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at livenation.com and ticketmaster.ca; however, the first of four presales begins today at 10 a.m. Prices were not announced.

The group was founded in Wasilla, Alaska, in 2002 and now uses Portland, Ore., as its home base.

Their biggest hit is 2017’s Feel It Still, which landed in the top 10 in 10 countries, including Canada and the United States. The band headlined the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Festival, helping push the event’s attendance to the second highest of its 48-year history.

Portugal. The Man also releases a new album on Friday. It’s titled Chris Black Changed My Life and is dedicated to a friend of the band who died in 2019.

Toronto’s Good Kid will open the Nov. 11 show.

WSO going to the great outdoors

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra will bring its sweet sounds to Assiniboine Park’s Lyric Theatre June 29.

Symphony in the Park, a 90-minute free concert that begins at 7 p.m., kicks off the Lyric’s summer music series, and will include famous works by Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Verdi, George Frideric Handel and famous film scores by the likes of John Williams. WSO associate conductor Julian Pellicano will lead the orchestra.

The WSO will head east on July 2 and play the Jarnel Contracting Pavilion in Kenora at 7:30 p.m., joined by Kenora-area vocalist Laura Cotton, who will perform music by Edith Piaf and Joni Mitchell.

MCO picks new executive director

Sean McManus, who has been the executive director of Manitoba Music since 2015, was named the new ED of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra on Tuesday.

McManus has been a touring musician, teacher and regular MCO audience member, an orchestra release says. It also mentions his knowledge of the music industry and advancing equity in the music community as key factors in his hiring.

“As we plan for the future of the MCO, we are confident that Sean’s leadership will bring fresh perspectives and initiatives to build on our existing strong foundation, and help to launch the MCO into the next 50 years,” Florence Carey, the president of the MCO’s board of directors, says in the release.

McManus takes over for Vicki Young, who has been the orchestra’s head for the past 20 years. She announced last November that the 2022-23 season, the MCO’s 50th anniversary, would be her last with the organization.

— staff