Monteverdi: Prima parole, seconda musica
Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Saint Margaret’s Anglican Church (160 Ethelbert St.)
Dead of Winter featuring Fidem in Fidibus
Music’s world order underwent a seismic change in early 17th C. Italy. Gone was the complex choral polyphony of the last 150 years, replaced by a new approach, where composers worked to convey the visceral drama of the text. Whole new musical forms were developed and opera was born. Monteverdi was the first great master of this new style. Along with contemporaries like Francesca Caccini and Salamono de Rossi, he forever changed the way music would reach audiences. The power of storytelling, grounded in dramatic text, was the new world order. First words, then music!
About Fidem in Fidibus
An ensemble formed in the 2024 Winnipeg Baroque Festival, Fidem in Fidibus (Faith in Fiddles) is a major collaboration between Manitoba soloists on period instruments. The group consists of violinists Momoko Matsumura and Tatiana Friesen (Violins), Theresa Thordarson (Harpsichord/Portativ organ), John Himes (Theorbo), and Nathaniel Froese (Cello).
About Mel Braun
Baritone Mel Braun is a versatile performer, equally at home in oratorio, recital, and opera, always open to new collaborations. He is well-known to Canadian audiences for his frequent performances and broadcasts in the Masterworks of Bach and Handel. These include performances with Tafelmusik, Calgary Bach Festival, Pro Coro Edmonton, Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. New Music, another of Mel’s interests, has seen him premiere works with Banff Centre, Manitoba Opera, Winnipeg’s New Music Festival, Groundswell, and Toronto’s New Music Gallery. As a recitalist, he is renowned for his creative approach to Song, whether singing Schumann’s Liederkreis while on stage with Winnipeg’s Q Dance, staging Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch, or tracing the life of Schubert among his friends as he completed his final work, Die Winterreise. His ongoing duo partnership with pianist Laura Loewen is at the heart of many of these collaborations.
As a teacher, Mel heads up the Vocal Program at the Desautels Faculty of Music, a program renowned for its collaborative and holistic approach to training singers, He has seen many of his students go on to significant careers as performers and teachers. Among Mel’s many initiatives at the Faculty are the annual Opera Theatre School Tour, the Contemporary Opera Lab, the Professor Bach Project, and the Micro-Certificate in Songmaking, a course that trains local Singer-Songwriters in Songwriting, Music Production, and the Business of Music.
As a music director, Mel looks after the operatic ensembles at the Desautels Faculty, as well as working with Dead of Winter (formerly Camerata Nova), a choir devoted to exploring new approaches to Indigenous choral music. He is much in demand as an Adjudicator and choral clinician, and also enjoys teaching many of the young rock singers that make up Winnipeg’s ever-burgeoning Indie Music scene. You’ll find him wherever young singers need mentoring.
About Theresa Thordarson
Theresa’s boundless creative drive springs from a lifetime of musical risk-taking. A keyboardist, vocalist, and creator across genres, her curiosity has led her to explore unexpected connections across disparate musical worlds, including new and traditional piano repertoire, synthesizer soundscapes, adventurous pop songs, and Baroque continuo (depending on the week).
Theresa has studied and served as a sessional instructor and collaborative pianist at both Brandon University and SUNY Fredonia. A dedicated educator with over a decade of private teaching experience, she has facilitated workshops in piano, songwriting, and composition for a variety of arts organizations. She also sings, plays synth, and writes songs as one half of art-pop duo Bicycle Face, and recently released a solo EP ‘revery’ under the moniker theresa thor. Theresa makes her home in Winnipeg.
About Momoko Matsumura
Originally from Osaka, Japan, Momoko enjoys a varied career playing orchestral and chamber music, as well as historically informed performances of baroque music on period instruments. From 2013-2024 she was based in Winnipeg and performed regularly with the Winnipeg Symphony and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. When starting to explore the world of H.I.P.P. (Historically Informed Performance Practice) she attended the world renowned Tafelmusik Summer Baroque Institute and also was invited to attend the prestigious Berwick Academy at the Oregon Bach Festival as a fellowship musician. Momoko performed in the period ensemble for Monteverdi’s “Vespers of 1610” at Winnipeg Baroque Festival in 2023. At Winnipeg Baroque Festival 2024 and 2025 Momoko produced a concert with the ensemble “Fidem in Fidibus” which was not only warmly received by enthusiastic Manitoba audiences, but it was the first purely Baroque period instrument concert presented on the festival. Currently Momoko is based in Toronto, ON where she continues performing in a wide variety of orchestral, chamber music and early music projects.
About Tatiana Friesen
Tatiana (she/her) is a freelance violist, Baroque specialist, and music educator based in Winnipeg, Treaty 1. She earned a Master’s in early music from McGill University under the guidance of Hélène Plouffe, Hank Knox, and Olivier Brault. Between 2016 and 2020, she initiated and performed with Musica Poetica; currently she plays both baroque viola and baroque violin as a member of Fidem In Fidibus. Tatiana teaches privately and through the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and the Arts and is a Teaching Artist with Sistema Winnipeg; from 2021-2023 she was the director of the Collegium Musicum at the University of Manitoba. As a performer and a teacher, Tatiana is curious about the notes on the page, historical context, physical and emotional health, and relational dynamics between sound-makers and sound-hearers.
About John Himes
John is a classical guitar performer, teacher, and adjudicator with a background in baroque, classical and contemporary performance. Born and raised in Western New York, John’s passion for expanding the guitar’s solo and collaborative repertoire brought him to Winnipeg, where he completed a master’s degree in music performance at the University of Manitoba in December of 2023. Before this, John earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the State University of New York at Fredonia. He is passionate about all things guitar-especially expanding the instrument’s solo and ensemble repertoire. John recently expanded into the world of early music; having attended the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute twice he offers continuo accompaniment using his newly acquired theorbo. Other qualifications include training in woodwind, brass, and percussion pedagogies, as well as concert band education.
About Nathaniel Froese
Nathaniel believes that cello will save the world. Deeply committed to the physical power of live music, he has toured throughout western Canada. Nathaniel is frequently called upon to play the continuo role, where he channels a passion for Baroque styles. Nathaniel brings excellence and thoughtfulness to all of his endeavours and seeks out new frontiers for music performance. He has become known for house concerts and regularly produces music and meditation events.
