Hey Winnipeg! Another week is starting to wrap up. But you know that means the events are just gearing up for the weekend!  The Classic 107 Arts & Entertainment  Calendar is your guide.

The 9-time Tony Award winning Musical, The Book of Mormon, opened this week in Winnipeg. Cited as the "the best musical of this century" by the New York Times and, "the funniest musical of all time" by Entertainment Weekly, the musical tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries sent to a remote village in northern Uganda, where a brutal warlord is threatening the local population. Naïve and optimistic, the two missionaries try to share the Book of Mormon with locals who are more worried about war, famine, poverty and AIDS, than about religion. The religious satire was written by the creators of South Park. The Book of Mormon is on now and runs through to Sunday (Mar 22) at the Centennial Concert Hall. Tickets are available through ticketmaster.

 

 

Friday night (Mar 20), Award winning jazz drummer and composer Curtis Nowosad comes back to Winnipeg for a special evening of music celebrating his brand new CD Dialectics. His sophomore album, this recording is a collection of dynamic and swinging original compositions by Curtis, as well as selected interpretations of music by Thelonius Monk, Wayne Shorter and Mercer/Shertzinger. The musicans on the CD are all names you know and love including Steve Kirby, Jimmy Greene and Will Boness.

Showtime is 8:00 PM at the West End Cultural Centre. Tickets are $23.75 and you can get them through Ticketmaster, Music Trader and the Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store. And don't forget to tune in to Jazz After 9 Thursday night when host Neil Coligan welcomes Curtis Nowosad live in the studio in the first hour of the show.

Watch some behind the scenes video from a Dialectics recording session!

 

 

Missed Neil Coligan's interview with Curtis? Watch here!

 

 

Also on Friday night (March 20) award winning soprano Jessica Strong in in the city. The Winnipeg native is performing at United Church in Meadowood for a joint fundraiser with the church. Jessica will be performing with pianist Madeline Hildebrand and the United Church. The program includes Lieder, Melodie, Arias, traditional/Folk music and even some Broadway selections.

 Showtime is 7:30. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for Children. You can get them by calling 204.256.7002 or at the door.

Watch Jessica perform a beautiful arrangement of 'Robert, toi que j'aime' from "Robert le diable".

 

 

Saturday night (Mar 21) Winnipeg's International Recital & Chamber Music Concert Series, Virtuosi presents Octagon. After the acclaimed Tokyo String Quartet retires, first violin Martin Beaver decided to create something brand new by drawing upon his network of leading instrumentalists to present two of the seminal chamber works for large ensemble – Beethoven's septet in E flat Major, Op 20 and Schubert's Octet in F major. So, who are the other performers? Pretty much a who's who of the Canadian Classical music world . . .cellist Rachel Mercer, clarinetist James Campbell, Rivka Golani on viola, Joe Phillips on the double bass, Kathleen McLean on bassoon, Ken MacDonald on French horn and accompanying Martin on violin, Mark Fewer..

Showtime is 8:00 PM at the University of Winnipeg's Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall. To reserve your seat call the Virtuosi Box Office at 204.786.9000

We sat down with Martin Beaver earlier this week. Watch the video interview here!

 

 

Sunday morning (Mar 22), the WSO's Women's Committee present their annual Spring Brunch. This year's featured performer is tenor Peter John Buchan who will be accompanied by Symphony musicians Travis Harrison and Leanna Rutt. The program will be made up of Icelandic works previously performed by the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir and the Winnipeg Singers. The Spring Brunch takes place at the Viscount Gort Hotel on Portage Ave just past Polo Park at 10:30 Sunday morning. Tickets are $65.00.

 

Sunday afternoon (Mar 22) Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra presents jazz guitarist Mike Rud and vocalist Sienna Dahlen. They are bringing their 2014 Juno winning album Notes on Montreal to the big band stage with the WJO. The music is inspired by what is considered a civic gem among North American cities. This is the city that brought us and inspired luminaries such as Oscar Peterson, Leonard Cohen, Mordecai Richler and Rocket Richard. It is a city of great food, great literature and most of all great music. Rud and Dahlen will be your guides.

There are two performances. Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM and then again in the evening at 7:30. All shows takes place at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in the Muriel Richardson Auditorium. Tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for those under 30. You can get them online or by calling the box office at 204.632.5299

 

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Mike Rud stopped by the Classic 107 studio Friday night to talk with Jazz After 9 host Neil Coligan. Watch the interview here!

 

 

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