Arts & Culture

Spring in Winnipeg means the return of the Winnipeg Baroque Festival, and with it, one of its signature events—the Bach Marathon Concert. Organized by the Winnipeg Centre of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO), this beloved event takes place on Saturday, April 5, at Young United Church, running from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

 The Winnipeg Baroque Festival continues this week with a brand-new ensemble set to introduce itself to the city’s classical music audience.

The Trio Leonarda, consisting of violinist Elation Pauls, cellist Alyssa Ramsay and keyboardist Leanne Regehr Lee, owes their name to the Ursuline nun and composer Isabella Leonarda from the early 17th century. Leonarda’s music will play a key role in their debut concert called Heaven Will Always Return.

As we embrace the Winnipeg Baroque Festival (March 30th to April 19th), we here at Classic 107 will be exploring Rosary Sonatas of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber.  This is a rare chance to immerse yourself in Biber’s profound storytelling.

The premise of the latest play being presented by the University of Manitoba’s Department of English Theatre, Film and Media Studies program is encapsulated in its title: Our Country’s Good. 

It’s a premise that Dola Atkintan has been engaging on a far deeper level than most of her classmates in Timberlake Wertenbaker’s 1988 adaptation of the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally. Atkintan came to study at the University of Manitoba from Nigeria and knows how the power of story can impact people’s lives. 

The 2025 Winnipeg Baroque Festival gets underway on Sunday with an intimate offering in the College Chapel of St. John the Evangelist at the University of Manitoba.

All the King’s Men, the chapel’s resident ensemble, will present a program entitled Masters of the Early 17th Century, a mixture of English and Italian composers that will serve as a primer of sorts for the sixteen concerts that this year’s festival has to offer.

Artists in the classical music and jazz categories received their trophies last night at the 2025 Juno Awards. 

The bulk of the awards celebrating Canadian music were handed out at the Juno Awards Gala ahead of the mainstage event at Rogers Arena hosted by Michael Bublé.  

This Saturday morning at 9 a.m., it’s all about the piano. Why? Because March 29 is World Piano Day, and what better way to celebrate than by tracing the instrument’s incredible evolution through music? From its early days as a refined classical keyboard to its emergence as a powerhouse of expression and virtuosity, the piano has transformed alongside the great composers who wrote for it.

Every year since 2015, musicians all over the world have paid tribute to one of the most beloved instruments ever created. 

World Piano Day is celebrated on the 88th day of the year to mark the 88 keys that make up the modern instrument. Danny Carroll will be touching each one of those keys as he offers up a World Piano Day tribute concert in Winnipeg this weekend. 

This Saturday, March 29, at 7:30 pianist Luke Welch will grace the stage at St. Andrew’s River Heights United Church as part of Virtuosi Concerts' Northern Magnolias performance.

The University of Manitoba Concerto Competition announced its three winners after a final round performance on the stage at the Desautels Concert Hall last week.  

Out of nine performers, pianist Ari Hooker, violinst Shion Tamashiro, and percussionist Nathan Gibbens came out on top of  a field that was open to all students in U of M’s Desautels Faculty of Music.