Hey Winnipeg, what are you doing this weekend?  If you’re looking for things to do, you’ve come to the right place. It's this week's Classic 107 Arts & Entertainment Calendar.

 Prairie Theatre Exchange launches its 2014/2015 season with the World Premiere of Daniel MacIvor’s Small Things.

The play, commissioned by the PTE, tells the story of Patricia, a woman of grace and good breeding, who moves to a grand house in a small town. She hires Birdy, a woman from the poor end of the same street, as her housekeeper. Polar opposites in personality & circumstances, their uneasy relationship becomes strained when Patricia takes an interest in Birdy’s daughter. The play is an exploration of how it’s really just the small things that keep us from understanding each other.

Variety had this to say about the playwright Daniel MacIvor, - “His plays have been labelled everything from postmodern to metatheatrical, but these are cold terms that do nothing to capture the warm, accessible soul of a writer whose honesty and compassion for both audiences and his characters is at the heart of the show.”

Small Things opens Thursday night (Oct 16) at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Portage Place. Tickets range from $37 to $49 dollars with special pricing for seniors and students with valid ID. And it runs until Sunday Nov 2nd.

 

 

Classic 107 got a sneak peak of the show and spoke with Barbara Gordon who plays 'Patricia'. Watch!

 

 

 

 

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra launches its Pops series Friday night (Oct 17) night with a Tribute to the King of Rock n' Roll himself – Elvis Presley. The concert stars 4 award- winning Broadway veterans who’ve sold out concert venues throughout Canada and the U.S. The King is on Friday night and runs through until Sunday (Oct 19) with all of Elvis’ greatest hits. For tickets contact the WSO box office.  Showtime is 8:00 PM Friday and Saturday night with a 2:00 PM matinee on Sunday.

 

Saturday (Oct 18) will prove to be a busy night on the entertainment scene. Along with Elvis and the WSO at the Centenial Concert Hall and PTE, Winnipeg’s International Recital & Chamber Music Concert Series, Virtuosi presents Five into One – a concert featuring the Minguet Quartet. Founded in 1988, the quartet is on only their second North American tour accompanied by American pianist Andreas Klein. Included in the program is chamber music by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Chopin and J.S. Bach. Fort tickets call the Virtuosi Box Office at 204.786.9000. Showtime is 8:00 PM in Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall at the University of Winnipeg. Congratulations to all the Classic 107 listeners who won tickets to tonight’s concert throughout the week. And don’t forget to tune in to Música Clásica this Saturday morning. Host Michael Wolch is filling in for me this weekend and he will have a couple of the Minguet quartet members live in studio in the last hour of the show between 11:00 AM and Noon. Tune in!

 

 

Also on Saturday night is Haley Rempel’s Classical Music Salon. Based on the centuries old history of performing classical music in interactive, social spaces, the Winnipeg flutist has created Manitoba’s first series of modern-day salons. If you’re an avid listener of Classic 107 and the arts & entertainment calendar, you may remember us talking about the Manitoba debut of this salon series which took place in September at the Krahn Barn in Neubergthal, MB. That concert was sold out! Saturday night’s Winnipeg concert will take place in the newly renovated Salle Antoine Gaborieau at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre. Haley Rempel will once again be performing with pianist Laura Loewen in a chamber music program that includes various favourite composers.

Tickets are $15 in advance and available by calling 204.943.6090

 

 

 The Women's Musical Club  is the oldest continuously operating musical organization in Winnipeg. It was formed in 1894 and continues to this day its tradition of providing a stage for talented young Canadian artists about to embark on an international career. Having said that, this year’s concert series also includes some very well established names. On Sunday (Oct 19) the Cecilia String Quartet will launch the 2014/2015 season at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The award-winning Canadian ensemble will hit the stage at 2:00 PM. Tickets are $25 or $5 for students. You can get them at McNally Robinson Booksellers or at the door. (Cash & cheques only)  Host Michael Wolch will be filling in on Música Clásica this Saturday. Tune in, in the 10 o'clovk hour when Michael talks to Cecilia String Quartet violinist Sarah Nematallah.

 

 

And finally, the Winnipeg Singers, under the direction of Mr. Yuri Klaz launch their season Sunday afternoon as well with a concert called Psalm and Song: Choral Music of Jewish Composers. Sunday’s concert will feature the Canadian premiere of a new work by Sid Robinovitch called ‘Songs in A Time of War’. Other music you’ll hear include Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, selections from Sons From Shakespeare by Harry Freedman, American Folk Songs by one of my favourite composers, Aaron Copland and Sing Unto the Lord a New Song by Srul Irving Glick. For this concert, the Winnipeg Singers welcome special guest Richard Turner in harp, Wes Elias on organ, Victoria Sparks on percussion and Countertenor Dan Peasgood. Show time is 3:00 PM Sunday afternoon at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue on Wellington Crescent. Tickets are $30 with special pricing for seniors and students. You can get those at McNally Robinson Booksellers, at the door Sunday afternoon or by calling 204.944.9100

 

 

  Tune in to the Classic 107 Arts & Entertainment Calendar with Claudia Garcia de la Huerta every Thursday, Friday and Saturday twice a day.