This year, warm your soul with live music

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/01/2019 (2676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Happy 2019! Now that the mistletoe’s been taken down and last slurps of eggnog glugged for another year, Winnipeg’s tireless classical musicians are already gearing up for another stellar round of concerts soon coming your way. Here is a baker’s dozen shows that have caught my eye, listed in chronological order:

l Virtuosi Concerts bolts out of the gate early with No Strings Attached, featuring the Donald Sinta Quartet. The program, offered Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Winnipeg’s Eckhardt Gramatté Hall, features classic string quartets by Schubert, Shostakovich and Barber, among other works arranged for saxophone quartet. For more details, see: virtuosi.mb.ca.

l Nothing fishy about this one. The Winnipeg Chamber Music Society performs Schubert’s beloved Trout Quintet Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The Clearwater Quartet — Gwen Hoebig, violin; Karl Stobbe, violin; Daniel Scholz, viola; and Yuri Hooker, cello — will be joined by chamber music society artistic director/pianist David Moroz and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra principal bass Meredith Johnson for the intimate program, which also includes works by Haydn and Piazzolla. For more information visit wcms.mb.ca.

l The 2019 Winnipeg New Music Festival, now under the baton of Daniel Raiskin, roars back into life on Saturday, Jan. 26 and runs nightly through Friday, Feb. 1. Highlights include the return of Bramwell Tovey, the former WSO conductor and co-founder of the now 28-year old festival, who conducts John Adams’ Harmonielehre, which was the work that opened the annual feast of contemporary music in 1991, as well as world-renowned vocal octet Roomful of Teeth promising to enthrall audiences with their jaw-dropping artistry on Friday, Feb. 1.

Both shows kick off at 7:30 p.m. at the Centennial Concert Hall, with more details here at wnmf.ca.

l The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra plays host to another national treasure when Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra brings its touring production of S. Bach: The Circle of Creation to the Westminster United Church stage on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m. The all-Bach program celebrates the genius of the Baroque composer with a creative combustion of text, music, and 21st-century visual projections courtesy of award-winning designer/double bassist Alison Mackay. Check out themco.ca for tickets and more details.

l Canzona, founded in 1989 by Henry Engbrecht and now led by Kathleen Allan, marks its milestone 30th anniversary with a special gala concert on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Park Theatre. The Baroque vocal ensemble’s latest program celebrates its illustrious past, present and future, including a world première and yes, there will be birthday cake. Visit canzona.ca/index.html for details.

l The Westminster Concert Organ Series presents Canadian dynamo Ken Cowan at Westminster United Church on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2:30 p.m. Cowan is praised worldwide for his dazzling virtuosity, impeccable technique and imaginative programming. For more details on his program that includes works by Bach, Schumann, Maurice Duruflé, and others, see: westminsterchurch.org/wcos_2017-18.

l Camerata Nova gets its groove on with The Prairie Songbook, a folk and pop-infused show directed by Mel Braun and Vic Pankratz, including a four-piece band at the Park Theatre. Two shows are slated for Saturday, March 9 at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., as well as a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday, March 10. The program includes works by the Wailin’ Jennys, The Guess Who, Joni Mitchell, Royal Canoe, k.d. lang and JP Hoe, proving Manitoba’s “wheatfield soul” is alive and growing. For more info, visit cameratanova.com.

l The venerable Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir, joined by the CMU Festival Chorus and the WSO, performs Verdi’s monumental Requiem conducted by WSO’s Daniel Raiskin on Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16, both shows at 8 p.m. at the Centennial Concert Hall. Visit thephil.ca for details.

l Manitoba Opera closes its 46th season with Rossini’s madcap The Barber of Seville, with three performances offered on April 6, 9, and 12. The comic opera tells of scheming barber Figaro, who helps Count Almaviva woo Rosina and escape the clutches of her greedy guardian Dr. Bartolo. The opera was last staged here in November 2010. For more details visit mbopera.ca.

l The Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg wraps up its 124th season with Houston-based wind quintet WindSync at the Winnipeg Art Gallery on Sunday, April 7 at 2 p.m. The program will include works by American composers as well as arrangements of standard works. Go to womensmusicalclubofwpg.ca for more info.

l GroundSwell casts its contemporary music net wide with Made in Canada, a program of rugged works by Canadian composers Scott Jodoin, Diana McIntosh, Robert Turner, Ken Nichols and Ernest MacMillan being performed Thursday, April 25 at 8 p.m. at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall. More details at: gswell.ca.

l OK, this is a personal favourite: the Winnipeg Singers, led by Yuri Klaz, presents Northern Lights: The Music of Ola Gjeilo on Saturday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Westminster United Church. The Norwegian-born, New York-based musician, known as one of the most frequently performed composers in the choral world, will be in attendance.

Details at winnipegsingers.com.

l Polycoro Chamber Choir’s tantalizingly titled final concert Subversion explores how music has been both feared and harnessed for political purposes over the last millennia. The program, led by John Wiens, features the Canadian première of Aaron Gervais’s Televised Address to the Nation on Civil Rights for choir and supercollider. Check it out on Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, with more particulars here: polycoro.ca.

As usual, this is but a small sampling of the riches to come. So bundle up and go support live music — it matters!

holly.harris@shaw.ca