Hey Winnipeg, what are you doing this weekend? Let the Classic 107 Arts & Entertainment Calendar be your guide!

If you like choral music, this is going to be a great weekend for you!

If you’ve ever been swept away with the urge to sing in Handel’s Messiah, your time has come my friends. Your time has absolutely come! Friday night (Dec 12) the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra  presents their annual Messiah Sing-Along. You’ll be able to sing your heart out along with others who have a similar love of classical music. The audience is arranged by voices: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Now if you’d just rather sit with friends or family, there is a section for mixed voices. Now if you don’t want to sing at all, no one will force you to . . .but you might find yourself having more fun if you let your inhibitions sit this one out

Joining all you star performers will be the Mennonite Festival Chorus led by Rudy Schellenberg.

WSO Messiah Sing a Long is Friday night, 7:30 at the Centennial Concert Hall. Tickets are only $29.00 and you can get them HERE or in person at the WSO box office.

Watch 'Herr Handel' (a.k.a) Ivars Taurins lead Tafelmusik and the Chamber Choir with a Messiah sing-along.

 

 

Also performing Friday night (Dec 12)---Renaissance Voices. The group’s annual choral celebration of Advent has become a highlight of the holiday season for many Winnipeggers . . .a time to sip on mulled wine or cider with friends while listening to good music in an informal, café-style setting. This year the group continues that tradition with “Ring Out Wild Bells”. The chamber choir will be presenting music by; Praetorius, Palestrina, Handel, Hassler and Whitehead, as well as more recently composed works by Don Macdonald, Jonathan Dove and Bruce Sled. The choir will also have as invited guests, Vern Wiebe and the CMU Handbell Ensemble. Ring Out Wild Bells starts at 8:00 PM tomorrow night at Young United Church. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students which you can pick up at McNally Robinson Booksellers Grant Park, or at the door. Ticket prices includes one drink ticket. Wine and Apple cider service begins at 7:30 PM.

 

If Jazz is more your style then you might want to head over to St. Peter’s Anglican Church on Elm St and Grant Friday night (Dec 12). The Bob Watts Trio will be performing music from their their Jazz for Christmas 2 recording. Joining Bob will be pianist Pablo Cardenas. Cardenas leads the West Coast Cuban Allstars and the Pablo Vardenas Afro-Latin Band. Since arriving in Canada from Cuba in 2010, he has performed with some of the biggest names in Canadian Jazz and for good reason. Rounding out the group is another superstar jazz performer, Winnipeg’s own Steve Kirby on bass. The concert is called Jazz Vespers for advent and showtime is 8:30 PM

 

Moving on to Saturday night (Dec 13). . . The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra presents its second night of Handel's Messiah. This time it is a traditional performance. No sing along. The concert is led by the wonderful Ivars Taurins who is the founding director of Toronto’s Tafelmusik Chamber Choir. And when it comes to Handel’s masterpiece, Ivars brings an experience to audiences like no other. Showtime is 8:00 PM at the Centennial Concert Hall. I will be there and I hope to see lots of you there. Get your tickets HERE or at the WSO box office at the Centennial Concert Hall.

Watch Ivars Taurins talk about the history of Handel's Messiah for a performance the Tafelmusik Chamber Orchestra and Choir did a few years back.

 

 

On Sunday (Dec 14) the holiday music continues with more Handel and more Messiah but this time we go swingn’ with the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra. and thier concert, Suite Messiah. Handel’s magnum opus one done up for big band compliments of the WJO will also be serving up some Oscar Peterson with his Hymn to Freedom, while asking some Angels We Have heard on High to be in the mood while Winnipeg’s own angelic singer Erin Propp takes the lead. In addition to the concert, the WJO is excited to announce the release of their third full album of the same title – Suite Messiah. There are two performances---A matinee at 2:00 PM and then an evening performance at 7:30. Both concerts take place at the Winnipeg art Gallery.T Tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for students, and you can get them HERE.

For a preview of the CD, go HERE

 

Also on Sunday (Dec 14), the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir will be shepherding audiences into the holiday spirit with their bi-annual Holiday Memories concert. The Phil has been putting on this audience favourite since 2009. The program weaves special recollections of well-known Winnipeggers together with the music of the season. Memory sharers include Classic 107’s own Eric Friesen, renowned architect Étienne Gaboury, CTV National News Bureau Chief and my old college classmate, Jill Macyshon, Metis author & storyteller Joe McLellan, former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Joe Poplawski and Sister Lesley Sacouman of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The evening will be hosted by another familiar name to Classic 107 listeners, the lovely Andrea Ratuski.

There are two concerts on Sunday---one a 3:00 PM and then an evening performance at 7:00 PM. Both are at Westminster United Church on Maryland. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors and $15 for audience members 30 and under. Kids under 6 get in for free. Tickets are available at McNally Robinson Booksellers or by calling the 204.896.PHIL. That’s 204.896.7445

 

Tune in to the Classic 107 Arts & Entertainment Calendar with Claudia Gacia de la Huerta every Thursday and Friday, twice a day (7:45 AM & 4:30 PM} and Saturday morning at 11:15 AM with host Simeon Rusnak.