The Mennonite Community Orchestra (MCO) is getting ready for its next concert, which is this coming Sunday, November 3rd. Entitled "Giving Voice", the event will see the voices of composers from several cultures, as well as student violinist Will Harder. represented.
"The Mennonite Community Orchestra has a long history, and its most recent iteration was incorporated in about 1978," explained MCO President Bob Wiebe. "We include a variety of musicians, both amateurs and some people who have played professionally. We're from all walks of life and faith backgrounds. We are considered to be Canadian Mennonite University's orchestra in residence, so there's some sharing of resources between us and we certainly love to include seeing new students in our orchestra and occasionally soloists."
The unique musical perspectives presented include Danzon No. 2, by Mexican composer Arturo Marquez, which gathers rhythms of Latin America in a crescendo of excitement. Introduction and Rondo Capriccio by Camille Saent-Sanes explores the voice of the violin, under the hands of soloist Will Harder as it dazzles, dizzies and delights. Harder was the winner of CMU’s Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition.
And there is one piece, in particular, which Wiebe feels demonstrates the "Giving Voice" theme, that being Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
"This is a voice within a voice within a voice, you might say," explained Wiebe. "It's a 20th century composer writing a work based on a theme from several hundred years earlier, so that's a voice. He uses the voice of the string orchestra, leaving aside the winds and brass, and the string orchestra itself is divided into two. Plus, from within that, there's a string quartet and soloist, so there's many, many different kinds of voices expressing music in that particular piece."
The goodwill partner for the event will be the Clan Mothers Healing Village, which is a land based healing village set under development near Belair, Manitoba. It will include living quarters, meeting and healing spaces, and social enterprise facilities.
"We look for opportunities to build community on a small scale, and we look for organizations that are doing what we might consider to be good work," he said. "The Clan Mothers are developing a land based healing village in a community living environment. There's quite a bit more to say about it, but they have a wonderful facility at Belair, Manitoba and have begun this work of sort of rebuilding people and giving them a voice."
Krista Anderson is the Social Enterprise, Innovation and Communications Manager with the Clan Mothers Healing Village.
"It's going to be a village where Indigenous women, two spirit and transgender persons can come to a community living environment, and it's a place to heal from systemic trauma, gender based violence and sexual exploitation," explained Anderson. "It was founded by Elder Mae Lousie Campbell and her daughter Jamie Goulet. It consists of an Elders Council, as well as a Lived Experience Council to help support these women who come into our programs, where they also have access to long term programming which includes skills based training, so they can build themselves up for a self-sustaining future."
Over the last two years, Clan Mothers Healing Village has hosted two pilot projects where two cohorts of women entered a 10-month carpentry program.
"We're very proud to say that of those graduates, we are so proud to see them celebrate their sobriety, some of them are celebrating three years of sobriety," shared Anderson. "They have a stable income through our first social enterprise, which is the Mother Earth Construction Crew, and they are guided on the land, currently building phase two of the Village, led by indigenous led Park West Projects, as well."
The Clan Mothers Healing Village expects to complete Phase 2 by the end of November, including the Elders Cabin and Lodge House. The women cabins are in progress, but more funding is needed to complete those.
The Mennonite Community Orchestra's presentation of "Giving Voice" is happening Sunday, November 3rd at 3pm at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Winnipeg (560 Arlington Street) Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students, and can be purchased ahead of time, here.
You can listen to CFAM Radio 950 Morning Show Host Chris Sumner's conversation with Bob Wiebe and Krista Anderson, below