Courtesy of Classic107.com
The Winnipeg Baroque Festival is set to return this spring with a wide array of concerts spread out over the course of three weeks. These concerts will run the gamut of musical traditions, geographies and arrangements from the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as pieces that respond to the era from a contemporary lens.
“This year’s festival experience will read as more personal than it has in previous years,” says Roland Deschambault, executive director of Dead of Winter who oversees the festival. “We have several smaller ensembles and soloists with offerings that give the festival a relatable musical touch that anyone can feel, regardless of how much someone knows about Baroque music.”
Deschambault also notes that he is amazed at how the level of music involved in the festival seems to go up every year. “More and more, we’re seeing international artists and artists of renown from this country take notice of what we’re doing here and want to be a part of it,” he says. “At the same time, we get to see and hear how lucky we are that we have this amazing collection of local musicians who are so well-versed in bringing this music to life.”
READ MORE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL AND GET YOUR TICKETS BY VISITING
WINNIPEG BAROQUE FESTIVAL
13 concerts slated to share Baroque mastery
The festival begins on March 29 with two contrasting concerts. The newly-formed Winnipeg Baroque Brass Choir will begin the festivities with a set of antiphonal pieces by Giovanni Gabrieli as well as transcriptions of music by English Baroque masters in a concert at the Desautels Concert Hall at 2 p.m. that is being presented in association with the Desautels Concert Series at the University of Manitoba. Softer sounds will ring in downtown Winnipeg at 4 p.m. as the All Saints Anglican Church Choir hosts an evensong service they are calling A Buxtehude Abendmusiken, named for the monumental German Baroque composer whose work had a profound effect on the likes of J.S. Bach.
Arguably the festival’s largest concert will take place back at the Desautels Concert Hall on March 31 as students in the University of Manitoba’s Oratorio Ensemble under the direction of Mel Braun will share a performance of a revered Handel masterwork, Saul. The following day, two of the city’s most in-demand vocalists, soprano Lara Secord-Haid and tenor Nolan Kehler, will present a program called Commentaries with 20th and 21st century reflections on English composers Henry Purcell and John Dowland (whose death took place 400 years ago this year).
The lone performance on the festival’s first weekend belongs to one of the city’s most celebrated violinists. Karl Stobbe will take the stage to share a program entitled Refractions of Bach, a collection of the master’s most celebrated counterpoint pieces alongside the reimaginations of Italian Baroque music shared by Igor Stravinsky. This concert takes place on Sunday, April 5 at 7 p.m. at Canadian Mennonite University’s Laudamus Auditorium in Charleswood.
Audiences are invited to return to the Anglican tradition on April 7 at 9 p.m. at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church in Wolseley for an intimate choral offering from members of the vocal quintet Proximus 5. Singers Paul Bruch-Wiens, Scott Reimer and James Magnus-Johnston will gather audiences together for renditions from William Byrd’s Vespers offerings.
Those who are inspired by the choral events of the festival will have a chance to perform themselves at a festival-first event at 7 p.m. on April 8. Singers of all abilities will be descending on X-Cues Restaurant & Lounge on Sargent Avenue in the West End for hal-ALE-lujah, a participatory sing-along of G.F. Handel’s “Messiah”, complete with beer and games.
A full weekend of concerts begins back at CMU’s Laudamus Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 10th with one of the Festival’s most beloved participants. The Nonsuch Ensemble will present a program entitled L’art des Sons which blends Italian virtuosity with French flair. Not to be outdone, the Tacamis Trio, fresh off of their debut album release J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations for Double Reed Trio, will be sharing a program called Time Regained with Baroque arrangements meant to compliment their unique instrument combination. This program will be performed on Saturday, April 11 at 7 p.m. at St. Andrews River Heights United Church at the corner of Oak Street and Kingsway.
The musical events of April 12 begin at 2 p.m. with a presentation from one of the founding ensembles of the Winnipeg Baroque Festival. Dead of Winter will share a concert entitled Monteverdi: Prima parole, seconda musica, an examination of the way in which the early Baroque master alongside contemporaries Francesca Caccini and Salamono de Rossi placed the value of words over the music. One of Claudio Monteverdi’s English counterparts will take the stage later that night at the College Chapel of St. John the Evangelist as the venue’s resident ensemble All the King’s Men returns to the Festival with a Choral Evensong dedicated to the music of Orlando Gibbons.
The Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg will make their first contribution to the Winnipeg Baroque Festival in 2026 with a presentation of one of the biggest up-and-coming acts in the classical music world. Praised by BBC Radio 3 as “extraordinary and spellbinding” and a recent performer at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, Rachel Fenlon will present a program mixing J.S. Bach with 20th century avant-garde contemporary classical composer George Crumb at the University of Winnipeg’s Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall on April 15 at 7:30 p.m.
The festival concludes with one of its most beloved features – a community celebration of J.S. Bach for all ages. The Royal Canadian College of Organists, Winnipeg Centre’s Bach Marathon sees performers on all instruments and all skill levels sharing their love for the great master’s music at Young United Church at 1 p.m. on April 18.
READ MORE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL AND GET YOUR TICKETS BY VISITING
WINNIPEG BAROQUE FESTIVAL
Festival sponsors help to create new festival opportunities
In addition to curating the 2026 iteration of the festival, its organizers have also been working to find new avenues to ensure its financial viability. “The planning and care that has gone into the festival from Dead of Winter’s board of directors has been incredibly gratifying to see over the past few years,” says Deschambault, highlighting the supports of businesses like Quadrant Private Wealth, Payworks, Arts & Heritage Solutions and Bunns Creek Pottery, as well as the patronage of Drs. Bill Pope and Elizabeth Tippett Pope and Ron and Sandi Mielitz. “Sourcing new financial supports ensures that the resources are in place for an organization our size to continue to grow the festival while also ensuring the quality and care that goes into the rest of Dead of Winter’s programming.”
Winnipeg Baroque Festival lineup at-a-glance!
March 29th, 2 p.m. – Winnipeg Baroque Brass Choir, Desautels Concert Hall (presented in association with the Desautels Concert Series)
March 29th, 4 p.m. – Evensong: A Buxtehude Abendmusiken, All Saints Anglican Church Choir, All Saints Anglican Church
March 31st, 7 p.m. – Saul, University of Manitoba Oratorio Ensemble, Desautels Concert Hall
April 1st, 8 p.m. – Commentaries, Lara Secord-Haid & Nolan Kehler, Location TBA
April 5th, 7 p.m. – Refractions on Bach, Karl Stobbe, Laudamus Auditorium (Canadian Mennonite University)
April 7th, 9 p.m. – Ves-Byrd, Members of Proximus 5, St. Margaret’s Anglican Church
April 8th, 7 p.m. – hal-ALE-lujah, X-Cues Restaurant & Lounge
April 10th, 7 p.m. – L’Art des Sons, Nonsuch Ensemble, Laudamus Auditorium (Canadian Mennonite University)
April 11th, 7 p.m. – Time Refracted, Tacamis Trio, St. Andrews River Heights United Church
April 12th, 2 p.m. – Monteverdi: Prime parole, seconda musica, Dead of Winter, St. Margaret’s Anglican Church
April 12th, 7:30 p.m. – Choral Evensong, All the King’s Men, College Chapel of St. John the Evangelist (University of Manitoba)
April 15th, 7 p.m. – The Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg presents Rachel Fenlon, Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall (University of Winnipeg)
April 18th, 1 p.m. – Bach Marathon, Royal Canadian College of Organists, Winnipeg Centre, Young United Church
READ MORE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL AND GET YOUR TICKETS BY VISITING
WINNIPEG BAROQUE FESTIVAL
