Hey Winnipeg, are you all slowly getting back into your routines yet? Well, we've got a ton of great events for you take in this weekend!

Every Thursday at noon there's a great concert series that happens in the Carol Sheilds Auditorium on the 2nd floor of the Millennium Library downtown –just off the skywalk. This week (Jan 15) the featured performer is Classic 107's own soprano Sarah Jo Kirsch. She will be performing alongside award winning pianist Madeline Hildebrand. Audiences will enjoy music by Larsen, Debussy and Sid Robinovitch. So grab your lunch and head down to the library, second floor, and take in some beautiful music. The concert goes from noon to one and it is absolutely free.

Watch Sarah Jo perform one of the pieces you'll hear.

 

 

Thursday afternoon (Jan 15) at 2:00 PM, another great music series takesplace at the Rady JCC – Music 'N' Mavens has started back up for the winter season. Today Jazz singer Martha Brooks performs the meltingly beautiful music of Irving Berlin. Playing with Martha will be Jeff Presslaff on piano, Steve Hamilton on bass and Rob Siwik on drums. The concert is from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. Tickets are available at the door. You can also get special ticket packages HERE.

 

Friday night (Jan 16) we know many classical music lovers will be heading out to the Centennial Concert Hall---many of us here at Classic 107 included-- to see former Tafelmusik Music Director Jeanne Lamon perform with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.  In a program called Mozart & Haydn with Jeanne Lamon, the legendary artist will be conducting from the first violin chair, music by Bach, Mozart, Corelli and Haydn. Jeanne will also lead an exquisite program that features WSO principal clarinetist Micah Heilbrunn in Mozart's unforgettable Clarinet Concerto. There are two performances, Friday night (Jan 16) and Saturday night (Jan 17) at 8:00 PM. For tickets go HERE.

Watch our interview with Jeanne Lamon live in the Classic 107 studio with Michael Wolch - host of Morning Light.

 

 

We also invited WSO Principal clarinetist Micah Heilbrunn to come down to the station to give us some insights on the clarinet concerto he'll be performing in the program.

 

 

 

Saturday morning (Jan 17) opera continues at SilverCity with The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD. This weekend it's Renée Fleming in The Merry Widow. The American soprano stars as the beguiling femme fatale who captivates all Paris in Lehár's enchanting operetta, seen in a new staging by Broadway virtuoso director and choreographer Susan Stroman. Stroman and her design team have created an art-nouveau setting that climaxes with singing and dancing grisettes at the legendary Maxim's. Baritone Nathan Gunn co-stars as Danilo and,, making her Met debut, Tony Award winning actor Keli O'Hara is Valencienne. Andrew Davis conducts. Showtime is 11:55 AM Saturday morning at SilverCity Polo Park and St. Vital. Go to Cineplex.com for tickets. You can even reserve your seats if you have a favourite.

Watch this great interview with The Merry Widow's director and choreographer Susan Stroman.

 

 

You can also watch a bit of a dress rehersal for The Merry Widow --- a scene starring Keli O'Hara---followed by an  interview with the Broadway actor and The Merry Widow's director and choreographer Susan Stroman HERE.

 

On Sunday (Jan 18) there are two very different concerts happening ----Both equally wonderful. The Winnipeg Chamber Music Society continues its acclaimed multi-season Beethoven String Quartet project with the extraordinary op. 135 quartet paired with the introspective and deeply personal music of Franz Schubert. The WSO's Gwen Hoebig and Karl Stobbe are on violin, Daniel Scholz is on viola, Yuri Hooker is the cellist and David Moroz performs on the piano. The concert begins at 8:00 PM in the Muriel Richardson Auditorium at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for students. You can get them at the door, the WSO Box office at the Centennial Concert Hall or by phone - 204.949.3999

 

And finally, over at the West End Cultural Centre, JUNO award winners Sultans of String are performing at 8:00 PM Sunday night (Jan 18). How can we describe the Sultans of String sound? It's Sable Island meets the Silk Road, with detours through the Gypsy-Jazz coffeehouses of Eastern Europe, next an East Coast Kitchen Party, then over to the bustling markets of Cuba and Lebanon. There are fiery violins, kinetic guitars while a bass lays down unstoppable grooves. Last year the group recorded an album with musicians from the Toronto Symphony, the National Ballet Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and others, to realize a vision the group had of recording with a full symphony. Tune in to The Wide World of Classical Music with host Michael Wolch this Saturday afternoon to hear more plus an interview with bandleader Chris McKhool.

 

Watch Chris talk more about this wonderful symphonic project.

 

 

These are just some of the things happening in Winnipeg this weekend. Tune in to hear the Classic 107 Arts & Entertainment Calendar with Claudia Garcia de la Huerta every Thursday and Friday 7:45 AM & 4:45 PM and Saturday mornings at 11:15 AM.