Hey Winnipeg! What are you doing this weekend?  That's what the Classic 107 Arts and Entertainment Calendar is here to help you with.

But why wait for the weekend? Thursday (Jan 29)  at noon, grab your lunch and change your scenery by going to the Millennium Library downtown for their Skywalk Concert series brought to you by the U of W Virtuosi Concerts. On Thursday it's Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's Andrew Goodlett. The Double Bass player will be performing works by Piazzola, Pärt ,Brahms and more. Accompanying him will be award winning pianist Madeline Hildebrand. It all starts at noon in the Carole Shields Auditorium.

 

 

Friday night (Jan 30) the Royal Canadian College of Organists presents organist Colin Redekop playing the magnificent 4 manual Casavant organ of St. Luke's Anglican Church. Colin is a concert performer and Music Director at Grace Presbyterian Church in Calgary. He'll be performing works by Bach, Couperin and Franck. The concert begins at 7:30 PM at St. Lukes on Stradbrook & Nassau. Admission is by donation.

 

Saturday morning (Jan 30), you might want to make your way to Silver City to take in one of their Live at the Met Live in HD screenings. This time is a live screening of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman or The Tales of Hoffmann. The magnetic tenor Vittorio Grigolo takes on the tortured poet and unwitting adventurer of the title of Offenbach's operatic masterpiece, in the Met's wild, production. Soprano Hibla Gerzmava faces the operatic hurdle of singing all three heroines – each an idealized embodiment of some aspect of Hoffmann's desire. Thomas Hampson portrays the shadowy Four Villians and Yves Abel conducts the sparkling score.

Showtime is 11:55 AM at both Silver City locations St.Vital and Polo Park. Go to HERE  to reserve your tickets.

 

And finally, this weekend marks the start of the 2015 Winnipeg New Music Festival. Seven days of some of the best new music in the world and it all starts Saturday night (Jan 30) with the leaders of the musical avant-garde for the last 40 years, the Arditti Quartet. The group, lead by Alexander Mickelthwate will be performing works by Wolfgang Rihm, Andrew Norman, Georg Freidrich Haas and from Arcade Fire's Sarah Neufeld, Breathing
Black arranged by Owen Pallett and featuring WSO Concertmaster Gwen Hoebig as the soloist The concert begins at 8:00 PM at the Centennial Concert Hall.

Before the concert you can take in a great panel discussion with Andrew Norman, Georg Friedrich Haas, The WSO's Yuri Hooker and Meredith Johnson. The topic? How do you judge a Piece of new music in the 21st century. There will also be a post concert Q & A with composers Norman and Haas.

Sunday night (Feb 01), The Arditti Quartet takes to the stage again to explore modern masterworks of four unique voices. Composer and MacArthur Fellow John Zorn, Alfred Schnittke, James Tenney and once again Georg Friedrich Haas. That concert begins at 7:30 PM. The preconcert panel Sunday night will look at Art, Architecture, Systems and their breakdowns. The post concert Q &A will feature the Arditti Quartet and Georg Friedrich Haas.

Looking ahead to Monday night (Feb 02), the festival moves to Westminster United Church and presents an evening of new choral music that is, at times, distinguished as much for what is not heard as what is. Winnipeg's Camerata Nova and Prairie Voices will be the featured performers along with various WSO members and our very own Sarah Jo Kirsch. Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winners Caroline Shaw and John Luther Adams are featured alongside Winnipeg mavericks Lubomyr Melnyk and Andrew Balfour in a program that will take you through a powerful dialect between the natural world, the physical body and the human mind.

The concert begins at 7:30 PM at Westminster United Church If you go early at 6:15 you can catch a wonderful panel featuring composer Caroline
Shaw, Curator for the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver Jenifer Papararo, the WAG'a curator of Historical Canadian art Andrew Kear and Co –curator of the Winnipeg New Music Fewstival Matthew Patton. They'll be discussing Music and Visual Arts.

On Tuesday night (Feb 03) it's back to the Centennial Concert Hall for a concert called Crossing Ground. This evening takes the temperature of the Canadian symphonic landscape with works by two of Canada's most influential women composers – Ann Southam and Violet Archer. AND two modern voices of growing importance – Larysa Kuzemko and Katie Agocs.

On Wednesday night (Feb 04) it's Tuning the Void. The Festival pays tribute to composer James Tenney – a composer's composer – who's had enormous influence in the 20th century, yet, is little known outside his own circle. This evening explores the music of Tenney through his acolytes – his student Matthew Patton, Georg Friedrich Haas, who was very much influenced by Tenney, and John Luther Adams who also studied with Tenney.

Watch this great interview with James Tenney on composition.

 

 

At 6:15, prior to the concert there will be a panel discussion called "The Rest is Noise" featuring Georg Friedrich Haas, John Luther Adams,
New York Magazine contributor and author Alex Ross and Matthew Patton

After the concert there will be a question and answer with Haas, John Luther Adams and the New Music Festival's Matthew Patton.

The Winnipeg New Music Festival continues right through until next Friday. Watch WSO Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate talk about the whole festival and specific highlights.

 

 

Tune in to the Classic 107 Arts & Entertainment Calendar with Claudia Garcia de la Huerta every Thursday and Friday 7:45 AM and 4:40 PM and Saturday mornings at 11:15 AM.