Category: What’s New

Saturday, October 29, 2022, 7:30 p.m.
Westgate Mennonite Collegiate (86 West Gate)

Join us as we perform one of Andrew Balfour’s works from his Truth and Reconciliation concert series. wonder of the North and features Inuit throat singers Aleatra Sammurtok and Zeann Manernaluk. We are dedicating this concert to the memory of Dead of Winter board member and long-standing board member and Manitoba Inuit Association President for several years, Fred Ford.

Please note, this will be a filmed performance (to be released as a concert film), and capacity is limited.

PERFORMER BIOS

Aemilia Moser is in the 2^nd year of a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Voice at the Desautels Faculty of Music, where she is singing the role of the Fairy Godmother in a performance of Massenet’s Cendrillon. She recently sang Alligator Pie with the WSO under the direction of Julian Pellicano.

Merina Dobson Perry continues to share her vocal gifts with many of Winnipeg’s professional choirs and also teaches music for young children. Merina has a secret “rock singer’ life.

Brittany Melnichuk is the conductor of the Rainbow Harmony choir and also works for the Manitoba Choral Association. She teaches at the Manitoba Conservatory.

Donnalynn Grills has sung with every major organization in town including Manitoba Opera, Rainbow Stage, Winnipeg Singers, and Canzona as well as the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, with whom was recently a soloist in Bach’s Mass in F.

Ange Neufeld, one of the founding members of Dead of Winter, is the tireless choir board rep for the choir. No one knows or cares more about the ongoing legacy of Dead of Winter and Ange is always there for everyone. When not singing with Dead of Winter or Winnipeg Singers, Ange is an Elementary School music teacher.

Carlie Fehr is in the first year of her Education Certification at the University of Manitoba. Every Monday she gets to work with the young singers at Dakota Collegiate, whose program is led by long-term DOW singer Justin Odwak.

Nolan Kehler is one of the busiest young tenors in the city, having recently sung the tenor solos in Bach’s St. John Passion under the direction of Kathleen Allan. When not involved in singing projects, Nolan works behind the scenes as a producer and studio director for CBC Radio.

Mike Thompson, another founding member of Dead of Winter is preparing for the Fall hunting season with his muzzle loader. Besides harvesting amazing venison, Mike is an enthusiastic drum hang participant and Manitoba’s only professional digeridoo player.

Kyle Briscoe is a recent graduate of the Desautels Faculty of Music. When not singing, he works as an assistant to Manitoba Opera CEO Larry Desrochers. Kyle will be singing the tenor solo in Peer Gynt with the WSO this winter and next season has him singing the tenor solos in the Messiah with the WSO.

Dr. Matthew Knight is our resident expert in Georgian music and has curated and arranged the Georgian portion of the upcoming DOW Christmas concert. Matt is much in demand on the local choral scene and is a father to two delightful daughters.

Al Schroeder is the 3^rd founding member of DOW still in the choir and is also a member of Winnipeg Singers. Al’s facility as a woodworker and home renovator is much in evidence around the city. Al, along with Mike Thompson, is one of DOW’s overtoning experts.

John Anderson is a recent graduate in Vocal Performance from the Desautels Faculty of Music. When not sharing his voice with local choral groups, John can be found teaching at the Children’s House Montessori School.

Violist Jennifer Thiessen recently returned home to Winnipeg after two decades in Montreal. An accomplished performer on both viola and viola d’amore, Jennifer has commissioned and created numerous new works for viola, as well as playing early music. She has collaborated with many of today’s leading New Music composers, developing a particular specialty in improvisation. Jennifer is the Artistic Director For the Virtuosi Concert Series.

Percussionist Tori Sparkes is the Percussion Instructor at the Deasutels Faculty of Music, where she is inspiring a whole new generation of percussionists in the wonders of rhythm, colour, and exploration. Tori, the only true Icelander in tonight’s performance, plays with all the major Arts organizations in the city and regularly commissions new works.

Vic Pankratz has logged countless hours as a solo singer with Manitoba Opera, the WSO, and the RWB, and has also sung as a chorister with all the professional choirs in the city. By day he leads the choral program at Westgate Mennonite Collegiate. He is much in demand throughout the province as a choral clinician. If there is a hockey or football game on during rehearsal, Vic is sure to PVR it, so that he doesn’t miss a single period or down.

Mel Braun is the long-time Head of Voice at the Desautels Faculty of Music, where he delights in working with young singers both as a voice teacher and opera ensemble director. He has been heard as a baritone soloist in Opera, Oratorio, and Art Song all across North America. When not singing, teaching, or conducting, he keeps up with all the rock young bands around town. He has avidly followed the Blue Bombers for the last 55 years…..it has been a journey….Yikes!

Aleatra Sammurtok is a busy Mom with a long history of throat singing here in Manitoba. An active participant in the local Inuit scene, she can be found sharing her gifts at many of the Inuit ceremonies and celebrations. 

Zeann Manernaluk grew up in Rankin Inlet, where she started singing at the age of six under the tutelage of her aunt. After moving to Winnipeg, she immediately became an important part of the local throat singing scene. A mother of two, Zeann works in the health field.

Phoebe Mann – local singer and percussionist Phoebe Mann is an old friend of Dead of Winter and tonight finds her displaying her flag waving expertise as she creates the sound of those Norse sails whipping in the wind.

Medieval Inuit concert program — View on webpage or download to your device

Read more about Andrew Balfour:
Choral maestro Andrew Balfour pursues his Indigenous identity through music — The Globe and Mail

You can help us continue to present beautiful music by DONATING TODAY!

Check out this live concert film for Andrew Balfour’s Captive filmed in May 2022 at the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg, MB.

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After two years of delay due to the pandemic, composer Andrew Balfour, with vocal group Dead of Winter, will finally premiere the latest concert in Balfour’s Truth and Reconciliation series.

This is the third in a series of Truth and Reconciliation concerts created by Andrew Balfour to acknowledge and honour the pain, sorrow and beauty of the experience of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. 

On Friday, May 13, celebrated composer Andrew Balfour will bring his much-anticipated Captive concert to life at the West End Cultural Centre, a week before he presents the same concert at PODIUM Choral Conference and Festival in Toronto on May 21. 

Click here to open Captive concert program in new tab https://deadofwinter.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/CAPTIVE_Program_MAY_21_2022_PODIUM_Toronto_v1.0-1.pdf

OR,

Download the Captive concert program below

On Friday, May 13, celebrated composer Andrew Balfour will brought his much-anticipated Captive concert to life in Winnipeg, MB, a week before he presents it at PODIUM Choral Conference and Festival in Toronto on May 21. 

Conductor Mel Braun will lead the Winnipeg vocal group Dead of Winter in Captive, the third installment in a series of Truth and Reconciliation concerts that began in 2017. Dead of Winter will share the stage with a slate of talented guest performers, including Melody Mckiver on viola, Alexandre Tetrault on fiddle, Rosary Spence, and Cheri Maracle.

The Truth and Reconciliation concerts are Balfour’s brainchild, and each concert centers around a theme that resonates with the Canadian Indigenous experience. Past concerts in the series have featured collaborations with an impressive range of Indigenous artists, including Cree hip hop artist Lindsay Knight and Polaris winner Jeremy Dutcher (Taken, 2017), and traditional Ojibway drummer-singer Cory Campbell and cellist Cris Derksen (Fallen, 2018). Captive will feature compositions by Andrew Balfour, Cris Derksen, and Kristi Lane Sinclair, with a glorious mix by Eliot Britton for commercial release after-the-fact. 

The ideas for the Captive concert started percolating during a composer gathering hosted by Dead of Winter back in February 2020. Balfour had gathered with Eliot Britton and Cris Dirksen in Neubergthal, Manitoba, where they spent four days workshopping their ideas. The gathering was an essential event in the creative development of the concert, and, originally, the plan was to perform Captive in May 2020. Then COVID-19 hit, and like so many live music events in the last two years of the pandemic, the performance was canceled.

Well, not exactly canceled.

The last two years have given Balfour and his fellow composers the unexpected gift of time, which they have taken full advantage of to build on and strengthen their original writing.

“I think that Captive will be profound in part because it’s changed so much,” says Balfour. “To have an extra couple of years to sit with the project has been very eye-opening as to what we want its statement to be.”

Ultimately, the pandemic has given Balfour the time to go deeper into the story he wants to tell, and figure out the best methods to provide the context of this story to his audiences. His own 25-minute piece sharing the concert’s namesake, ‘Captive,’ has evolved quite a bit over the last two years. Initially intended to tell the story of Chief Poundmaker, a famous chief of the Poundmaker Cree Nation, the narrative has transformed into a larger story of Indigenous incarceration, to be presented in five abstract scenes.

“There’s a legacy in our country of imprisonment of Indigenous people, and it’s a very tragic part of our colonial history here; indeed, most of our prisons are still filled with Indigenous people. One of the key things these Truth and Reconciliation Concerts do is allow me and other composers to reset and rethink how we want to tell a story. Like ‘Notinikew’ (from the Fallen 2018 concert), it is not my intention to end ‘Captive’ with a positive note. Although I am myself a positive person, this is a subject that doesn’t have an optimal conclusion.”

Balfour is also careful to highlight that he does not speak for all Indigenous people. 

“I can only speak from my perspective. I’ve had a little experience within the justice system myself, and have seen the powerful tragedy and racial injustice from the inside. But this injustice is everywhere; it’s in the medical system, it’s in the social system, it’s in our religious institutions, it’s everywhere. And the people who work in these systems, they are our intended audience.”

Balfour and Dead of Winter will debuted Captive in Winnipeg, MB, at the West End Cultural Centre on the evening of Friday, May 13. This performance, however, covered only half of the excitement. A week following the concert premiere, Balfour and Dead of Winter will present Captive on the national stage in Toronto at PODIUM, Canada’s national choral conference and festival. The invitation to perform at the conference is an immense honour for Balfour, whose much-anticipated concert will be a feature of the festival. 

For more information, including performer bios and additional show notes, please visit https://deadofwinter.ca/season/captive/

Read more about Andrew Balfour:
Choral maestro Andrew Balfour pursues his Indigenous identity through music — The Globe and Mail

Check out this video for I Went to War / Poni pimacisiwin (the end of living)— an excerpt from Notinikew (Going to War) by Andrew Balfour and featuring cellist Cris Derksen and the Winnipeg Boys’ Choir.

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