Hey Winnipeg, we think it is safe to say that Spring is on its way and what better way to celebrate than by getting out of the house and taking in some amazing entertainment!

Thursday afternoon (Mar 12) marks the final concert of this season's Music 'N' Mavens concert series. The Rembrandt String Trio will play the series out at the Rady JCC. Award winning musicians and principal players with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, this quartet of violins, viola and cello will be performing classical and Jewish music in an hour ling concert that starts at 2:00 PM Tickets are $10 for non-members and $6 for Rady JCC members. For more info go HERE.

 

Speaking of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Spring, Conductor Julian Pelicano leads the symphony this weekend in a very special series of performances that will take you to the movies. Specifically, a movie The American Film Insitute (AFI) called the greatest movie musical of all time---Singin' in the Rain. See and hear it in a whole new way with live orchestral accompaniment as the WSO plays the original MGM music to the award-winning on-screen performances of Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds. To make the experience even more special, biographer and film historian Patricia Ward Kelly will take you behind-the-scenes after the movie with an intimate story of her late husband gene Kelly and his perspective on the innovative work he did.

 

 

There are 3 performances – Friday night (Mar 13) and Saturday night (Mar 14) at 8:00 PM and Sunday afternoon (Mar 15) at 2:00 PM. Tickets range from $22 to $111 and you can get them online HERE or by calling the WSO box office at 204.949.3999.

 

Also on Friday night (Mar 13), The Winnipeg Singers present their third concert of the season, Speechless: Songs Without Words. For a taste of something different the choral group has come up with an entire concert featuring songs without words. Selections include 'Soundchants' by Sid Rabinovitch and 'Magic Songs' by R. Murray Shafer. There will also be works by Bruce Sled, Bach, Rachmaninov and Part, just to name a few. Showtime is 7:00 PM Friday night (Mar 13) at the Crescent Fort Rouge United Church. Tickets are $30 for adults. $25 for seniors and just$15 if you are 30 years old or younger. You can purchase your tickets at McNally Robinson Booksellers or at the door the night of.

 

 

 

Greek-Canadian Mediterranean guitarist Pavlo is at the West End Cultural Centre  Saturday night (March 14).

 

 

Pavlo has come full circle since he introduced his Mediterranean brand in 1998, once again recording an all-instrumental album. Complete with all brand new compositions, his latest album highlights Pavlo's ability to melodically unite world instruments into his sound while staying true to his distinct Mediterranean guitar signature.

Pavlo has many albums under his belt, his second earning a Juno nomination and hit the Billboard Top 10. He went on to collaborate with the likes of Oscar Lopez and Rik Emmett, creating an amazing discography of Mediterranean and World music.

Showtime is 8:00 PM.  Tickets are $25 advance at the West End Cultural Centre, Ticketmaster, Music Trader and The Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store or $30 at the door.

Watch one of the performances from Pavlo's PBS special a few years back.

 

 

 

This weekend is your last opportunity to catch Playing With Fire: The Theo Fleury Story at Prairie Theatre Exchange. This one man show has been getting rave reviews. Based on Fleury's best-selling biography, this the brutally honest story of how a 5'6 Metis youth, who grew up in Russell Manitoba and played for the Winnipeg Warriors, over came incedible challenges to become an NHL star. And did we mention the show is performed entirely on hockey skates and synthetic ice?

 

 

Playing With Fire is running nightly, including two matinee performances Saturday (Mar 14) and Sunday (Mar 15). For tickets go to pte.mb.ca or call Prairie Theatre Exchnage at 204.942.5483.

 

Jazz Winnipeg's Nu Sounds Series kicks off for another season Sunday night (Mar 15). Keith Price will launch the whole thing off. The award winning jazz guitarist will be remixing this music live! Performing with a jazz trio and two CJs onstage, Keith's music will be recorded live and sampled by the DJs, who then add those layers of sound back into the mix, influencing what the musicians play next. Joining Keith on this musical adventure will be DJ Hunnicut, Julian Bradford, Brennan Saul and Moses Mayes' Nathan Reimer.

Showtime is 8:00 PM tomorrow night at the Park Theatre on Osborne. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. You can also get tickets for the whole Nu Sounds series for $40. Go to HERE for more info.

Wacth the Keith Price Trio perform a wicked version of Kurt Cobain's Lithium

 

 

Looking ahead to next week The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra presents Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's principal cellist Ariel Barnes in program of Handel. Here is MCO Music director Anne Manson to tell us more.

 

The originally-programmed per­form­ance and debut of Man­itoba com­poser Heidi Ouellette's Life on Mars has been post­poned. In its place, the MCO will present Diver­tisse­ment, for string quar­tet and string orches­tra, by Cana­dian com­poser Pierre Mer­cure.

 

Also on the program, Janáček's String Quartet No 1 arranged for strings and Pierre Mercure's Divertissement for string quartet and string orchestra. Showtime is 7:30 PM Tuesday night (Mar 17) at Westminster United Church. Tickets are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors and $10 for students. You can get them at McNally Robinson booksellers, The West End Cultural Centre, Organic Planet or by calling the MCO ticketline at 204.783.7377.

 

 

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