Music and poetry to honour our rivers; our free community holiday concert, WinterSing!; and Mexican Indigenous Baroque music fused with contemporary Cree – our 29th Winnipeg concert series promises to tell stories, innovate and celebrate!
Check out the breakdown of our full season below, including individual concert details. We’re looking forward to singing for (and with!) you this year!
Nestaweya
October 20, 2024, 3:00 pm, Desautels Concert Hall, University of Manitoba
Curators: Andrew Balfour and Mel Braun
Conductor: Mel Braun
Special thank you to concert sponsors Winnipeg 150, City of Song
Nestaweya means “three points” in Cree. Locally, it represents The Forks and the great rivers that brought the Cree, Ojibwe and Dakota peoples together.
Curated by Andrew Balfour and Mel Braun and conducted by Braun, Dead of Winter celebrates water, women as water-keepers and the pre-settler roots of Winnipeg with a concert featuring the poetry of katherena vermette (Winnipeg-based Metis poet, acclaimed novelist and activist), set to music by Indigenous composers Melody McKiver, Ian Cusson and Andrew Balfour. The audience is in for a special experience with readings by vermette, teachings/songs by Indigenous Song-keepers Laura Horton, Taylor Galvin, and Ellen Cook and ceremony with voice, crystal bowls and percussion.
Dead of Winter is proud that Nestaweya will be the first choral concert at the new Desautels Concert Hall, opened September 2024 at the University of Manitoba. Lots of free parking available!
Get your tickets HERE
WinterSing!
November 24, 2024, 3:00 pm at the Crescent Arts Centre, 525 Wardlaw
Curator/Conductor: Victor Pankratz
Guest Artists: Oberih Ukrainian Choir
WinterSing! is Dead of Winter’s annual free community concert. This year, we are celebrating the Ukrainians of Winnipeg, both long-standing and newcomers, with Manitoba Ukrainian Choir, Oberih. Come to hear stories, enjoy the exceptional beauty of this music, well-known carols, and sing-a-long surprises galore!
Be sure to secure your FREE tickets through the link below and bring your family and your vocal chords to this extraordinary experience created by curator/conductor, Vic Pankratz!
Support Harvest Manitoba, bring a tin for the bin!
Space is limited, please secure your FREE tickets HERE
Polyphony meets the Prairies
April 6, 2025, 3:00 and 7:30 pm at St. John’s Chapel, St. John’s College, University of Manitoba
Conducted by Mel Braun and Andrew Balfour
Special thank you to concert patrons: Drs. Bill Pope and Elizabeth Tippet Pope
A reimagining of the presentation of early music: Europe meets North America
Dead of Winter presents 14th to 18th century polyphony: Henry Purcell (1659-1695), Hildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179), Alonso Lobo (1555-1617) Manuel Cardoso (1566-1656), including Mexican Indigenous composers, Manuel de Zumaya (1678-1755,) and Geronimo Gonzales (c.1633).
Woven within is Waa Waa Steewak (Northern Lights), Andrew Balfour’s groundbreaking oratorio for chamber choir, viola, and narrator.
It all began with the Northern Lights. Transfixed by their beauty, Indigenous spirit Chepi raised her voice in wordless praise. The sound of her voice, warm like a viola, enveloped the air around her and attracted Trickster. Trickster got an idea, and before she knew it, Chepi was journeying through time and space to become one with other musics.
From one moment to the next she might be in a chanting in a Convent with Hildegard, singing in a 17th-century Mexican Cathedral, or raising her voice on the streets of Winnipeg. Each place felt like home and when she added her voice, warm like a viola, the air around her was enveloped with light and beauty.
Violist Emily Eng plays in between each movement, her string notes acting as the voice of Chepi. “It’s almost like the viola line is a piece of yarn that’s been stitched or sewn together into the whole fabric of the piece,” says Balfour. Other guest artists include actor/performer Cheri Maracle and narration by gifted performer/storyteller, Joseph Naytowhow.
Experience this in the acoustic beauty of St. John’s College Chapel at the University of Manitoba.
Please note: This concert is part of the Winnipeg Baroque Festival to be held March 30-April 19, 2025. Please visit winnipegbaroquefestival.com for more info.
