The Classic 107 Arts & Calendar is back this week to bring you the highlights of what's hapening in Winnipeg this weekend!

No need to wait for the weekend, at noon Thursday (Nov 06) the Canadian Mennonite University’s Richard Konrad will be entertaining listeners in the Carol Shields Auditorium at the Millennium Library. The classical pianist will be performing music by Schubert and Beethoven. So bring your lunch and be entertained.

 

Friday (Nov 07) is the first Friday of the month and that means First Fridays in the Exchange. All the art galleries and many other businesses stay open right through the evening with special events and live entertainment. Part of the activities includes an event called Art Talk/Art Walk . The talk, this month, revolves around developing a taste in art, collecting on a budget and fine art print making. The Art Walk comes after with a tour of six printmakers’ studios in the exchange. If you would like to attend, tickets are $28 and they include dinner, the talk and the guided walk afterwards. The event starts at 6:00 PM tomorrow night at the Winnipeg Free Press News Café on McDermot Ave. You must reserve your ticket ahead of time and you can do so by calling 204.697.7069. When you receive a call-back from the café, your place is reserved.

 

Friday night (Nov 07) night also marks the opening night for the 2014 Global Justice Film Festival at the University of Winnipeg. The two day festival will feature award winning documentaries that range in topics from residential school survivors to fair trade coffee and much, much, more. Friday night’s opening documentary is called Sweet Dreams and it follows the story of Rwandan women empowering themselves, forming the first ever female drumming troupe and an ice cream business---both things, previously unheard of in Rwanda.

 

 

Sweet Dreams will screen at 7:00 PM in room 4M31 in Manitoba Hall at the University of Winnipeg. Go to classic107.com and click on the arts & Entertainment calendar. You’ll find a link to the festival and the whole schedule.

 

Staying at the University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg’s International Recital & Chamber Music Concert Series, Virtuosi presents a wonderful tribute to Remembrance Day with pianist Maxim Bernard. Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the start of World War 1, Maxim Bernard asks. “What role did this war play for artists?” – Especially composers living through daily reports of slaughter on the battlefields of Europe. Did the terrible news influence creativity? Stimulate their imagination, or stifle it? These questions are explored with a program of nine works, written entirely while the war raged from 1914-1918. The concert will culminate with Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin which evokes the memory of a friend and siblings lost at the Front. Concert time is 8:00 PM  Saturday night (Nov 08) and Sunday afternoon (Nov 09) at 3:00 PM. Call the Virtuosi box office at 786.9000 to reserve your seat or tune in right here to Classic 107. We have a few pairs to give away throughout the week. Join me on Musica Clasica this Saturday morning when Maxim Bernard will be my guest live in studio between 11:00 & Noon.

Watch Maxim Bernard perform a Chopin Nocturne below!

 

 

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra presents Reimagining Broadway this weekend as part of their Pops series. The program, conducted by Julian Pelicano, features Manitoba born composer Mike Janzen and his trio, plus guest vocalist Sarah Slean. If you’ve never heard the Canadian songstress, you’re in for a real treat. She leaves listeners spellbound with her beautiful and unique voice that for me, harkens back to the time of interwar Paris with a contemporary sensibility. From Mary Poppins to West Side Story, to Les Miserable, this will be an incredibly entertaining evening. There will be three shows. Tomorrow night and Saturday night at 8:00 PM and a matinee performance Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM.

Watch Micke Janzen perform with his trio, a wonderful rendition of Mary Poppins' Chim Chim Cheree below!

 

 

Watch Canadian  singer/songwriter Sarah Slean perform with Symphony Nova Scotia below!

 

 

 

The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra presents Duke Ellington's Black, Brown & Beige this weekend with composer and arranger Fred Stride. No stranger to the work of Ellington and the WJO for that matter, Fred Stride has presented the Duke’s sacred music many times to tremendous appreciation. But Black, Brown and Beige is really special because it’s so rarely heard. It’s a work that tackles the history of African Americans with the Duke’s characteristic refusal to be nothing less than swinging. Joining the WJO will also be vocalist Heitha Forsyth. The concert will also feature many more of Duke Ellington’s great works including Jef Presslaff’s arrangement of Caravan.

There are three performances – Saturday night and Sunday night at 7:30 PM and a Sunday matinee show at 2:00 PM. All the concerts take place at the beautiful Winnipeg Art Gallery. Tickets are $35 for adults or $15 if you are under 30 years of age. You can get them at the door or ahead of time at McNally Robinson Booksellers or by calling the WJO boxoffice at 204.632.5299.

Don’t forget to tune in to Jazz After 9 Thursday night (Nov 06) when Arranger Fred Stride will be Neil Coligan’s guest in the first hour of the show between 9:00 AM and 10:00 PM.

Listen to some of "Black, Brown & Beige" here!

 

 

Looking ahead to the week to come and outside the boundaries of Winnipeg, on Monday (Nov 10) the Golden Prarie Arts Council  present, 'One Piano, Four Hands' with the Fung-Chiu Duo at Carman Collegiate Theatre. The pair have become one of Canada's hottest piano-duos by presenting concerts that challenge the traditional boundaries of four hands piano playing. The concert is called 'Notes on Shakespeare' and focuses on muisc inspired by the English bard's plays. Audiences will be treated to music from Leonard Bernstein's 'West Side Story', Mendelssohn's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Prokofiev's 'Romeo & juliet' and more.

Showtime is 7:30 PM. Tickets are $18.50 for adults and $10.00 for students. You can buy them at the Golden Priarie Arts Council, Sears Carman os the Carman Active  Living Centre.

Watch the Fung-Chiu Duo perform music by Stravinsky below!

 

 

Tune in to Morning Light Monday morning (Nov 10) with Michael Wolch. The Fung-Chiu Duo will be Michael's guests live in the studio in the 9:00 AM hour.