Mind, Body, Soul

In December the Swiss record label Prospero released a CD featuring the marvelous Israeli pianist Daniel Gortler performing selections from Edvard Grieg’s ten books of Lyric Pieces.

This Friday, March 15th and Saturday, March 16th at 7:30pm the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra will be performing the film score from the sixth film in the Harry Potter series, ”Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Sit back, relax, and take in magic and mystery of this movie, as the WSO provides the breathtaking soundtrack, written by Nicholas Hooper, using some of the iconic themes and motives originally written by John Williams.

Paris Meets Hong Kong: Canadian pianist Philip Chiu takes listeners on a musical Voyage

On February 9th, the ATMA Classique record label released a recoding called Voyages that features the outstanding Canadian pianist Philip Chiu performing the music of Debussy and Canadian composer Alice Ho.

This Wednesday, March 6th at 1:30 at the Gwen Sector Creative Living Centre at 1588 Main Street, the Music and Maven’s Concert and lecture series is presenting the amazing  Argentinian-Canadian singer-song writer Onna Lou in a concert called Onna Lou Sings Songs of Latin America

Fusing Latin pop rock with Latin-American folk rhythms, tango and flamenco, Onna Lou has been described as a complete artist who sings, writes, performs and records her own music with warmth, intimacy and immense talent.

This Sunday, March 3rd at 7:00pm, The Fort Garry Hotel in collaboration with Jazz Winnipeg will be presenting the fabulous Icelandic vocalist, pianist and composer Sigurdís.

Sigurdís grew up in northern Iceland and in 2013 she moved to Reykjavik to pursue jazz studies. Eventually she relocated to Denmark where she completed a Master’s in Composition and Jazz Performance, from the Danish Academy of Music.

This Saturday, March 2nd at 7:30 at the Winnipeg Arts Gallery’s Main Hall, the Virtuosi Concert Series is putting on a concert called With Sick and Famished Eyes. Featuring the otherworldly, gorgeous voice of Canadian baritone Jonathan Adams, this is going to be fantastic concert that features 17th century song, traditional Indigenous music, and their own poetry.

Opening up the concert will be a string trio that consists of three of the finest young string players in Winnipeg today.

This week there are two recitals that feature a phenomenal father and son cello-piano duo. Today, February 27th at The Rady JCC at 2:00pm, the Music and Mavens concert series presents Rapt in Rachmaninov.  This concert will feature Yuri and Ari Hooker. Yuri Hooker is the Principal cellist with The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and his son Ari recently won the $2500.00 prize from the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg, and is currently studying at the University of Manitoba’s Desaultels Faculty of Music.

Earlier today Chris Wolf and his colleague Tanya Blatz, stopped by Lord Nelson School to read to the delightful Grade four class and their teacher Fernando Dalayoan. This was the cherry on top of what has been a phenomenal I Love to Read Month of February.

Fernando entered his class in to the I Love to Read Contest with McNally and Classic 107 and consequently his class ended up being  gifted a whole pile of brand new books compliments of McNally Robinson.

Explore the music of Adolphus Hailstork every day this week at 1:00pm as we wrap up our celebration of Black composers in this final week of Black History Month.

Monday, February 26: Symphony no. 3 (2003)

Tuesday, February 27: Piano Concerto no. 1 (1992)

Wednesday, February 28:Symphony no.1 (1988)

Thursday, February 29: Sonata da Chiesa for String Orchestra (1992)

Friday, March1: Epitaph for a Man who Dreamed (1979)  and 3 Spirituals for Orchestra (2005)

One hundred years ago, George Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue was premiered. Audiences sat down on a snowy Tuesday afternoon on February 12th 1924 at Aeolian Hall in Manhattan, and saw a performance of a new masterpiece that would fuse both jazz and classical music. This work would ultimately become one of the hallmarks of American music.