Arts & Culture

Quincy Jones, the trailblazing producer, arranger, and musician whose influence touched nearly every corner of the music world, has died.

Jones' publicists confirmed the producer died on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, at his home in Bel Air.

Growing up in Chicago, Jones' early life was shaped by the vibrant but challenging environment of the city’s South Side. He discovered music as a form of solace and self-expression, and by his teens, he was already playing trumpet and arranging music professionally.

“I’m living in a sad and terrifying nightmare,” says Winnipeg choreographer and musician Casimiro Nhussi. 

“The land is red and dry, the river, too. The trees are naked, and the animals are skinny and sad. There isn’t enough green land for all of us.” 

These sentiments of despair are the impetus behind the latest production from Nhussi’s NAfro Dance collective, Serengeti. The project explores the environmental challenges and existential threats of the climate crisis that all living creatures share. 

The Manitoba government has increased its funding for the Manitoba Arts Council to $13.7 million this year, an eight per cent boost announced Friday at the Centennial Concert Hall.

The investment aims to strengthen the province’s arts sector, supporting artists, Indigenous knowledge keepers, and organizations that shape Manitoba’s cultural landscape.

With colder temperatures and shorter days comes the perfect time for cozying up with a good book. If you are in a reading rut, Chris Hall from McNally Robinson Booksellers joined Nolan Kehler in the Classic 107 studios to share 'What to Read' with him for the first time.

The titles that Chris shared with Nolan this month were: 

Precipice by Robert Harris

A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet  

Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik

Patriot by Alexei Navalny

On August 2nd, 2024, the Music and Arts Record Label released a CD that features the fantastic playing of the renowned Ukranian-American pianist Anna Shelest. 

Just over a year after one of Canada’s longest-standing orchestra was silenced by bankruptcy, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony announced its return to the stage this week. 

In a Facebook post, the symphony shared that its bankruptcy had been officially annulled, and that they would return to present concerts again as soon as the end of this year. 

The Prairie Theatre Exchange is welcoming a new artistic director.

Ann Hodges, whose career with the PTE spans three decades, including as an artistic associate from 2014-2015, says she is thrilled to join the team.  

"My first job at PTE was as a student selling subscriptions over three decades ago, and I've always considered PTE my artistic home," said Hodges.

During her time with PTE, Hodges also served as a teacher, marketing assistant and student. She also directed 16 shows.

For the Mennonite Community Orchestra, Giving Voice is more than the just the title they gave to their upcoming concert.  

It’s also more than just the unifying theme of the works being presented, which run the gamut from the rhythmic “Danzon no. 2” by the Mexican composer Arturo Marquez, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ inventive “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”, the fiery overture to Georges Bizet’s “Carmen”, and the dazzling “Introduction and Rondo Capriccio” by Camille Saint-Saens. 

Coming up in just a few days Winnipeg audiences will have the opportunity to see one of the genuinely great string quartets on the stage today.  

The Swedish Stenhammar String Quartet will be in Winnipeg performing two concerts. One for Virtuosi and one for Winnipeg's GroundSwell.