Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 18, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Comfy Home, Cozy Fall. + ** See below for details. % OFF 25 Fall-Inspired Faves * Score Recliners starting at $599 Store Hours: MON-SAT 10AM - 6PM | SUN 11AM - 5PM la-z-boy.com *some exceptions apply, see store for details **O.A.C. $199 administration fee applies Connect with us: 1425 Ellice Ave ................................................204-783-8500 36 Month No Interest Financing ** Sherman Rocking Recliner 2 Colours Available Kells Leather Rocking Recliner 2 Colours Available Talladega Rocking Recliner 3 Colours Available $ 1,299 was $1,739 Save $440 $ 1,799 was $2,425 Save $625 $ 1,425 was $2,375 Save $950 Tahoe 5 Pce Sectional $ 6,899 was $9,225 Save $2,326 Jay Reclining Sofa $ 2,325 was $3,125 Save $800 WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● C3 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2025 From intimate chamber works to larger-than-life operas, fall season has lots in store Ten noteworthy concerts on classical calendar W ELCOME to your brand-new arts season! Winnipeg is well known for punching above its weight in world-class performances, and this year proves no exception. Here is a list of 10 concerts that have caught my eye from now until the snow flies, listed (mostly) in chronological order: 1) The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra launches its next chapter under new concertmaster Karl Stobbe. A pair of back-to-back concerts, Volodin Plays Shostakovich, led by Daniel Raiskin, features internationally acclaimed violinist Alexei Volodin performing two different works by the Sovi- et-era composer on Saturday, Sept 27, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 28, 2 p.m. For more details, see wso.ca. 2) If you still need more (and who wouldn’t?), the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg also showcases the virtuoso in a solo recital at the Desautels Concert Hall on Thursday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. Visit wmcwpg.ca. 3) Next up on WMC’s playlist is Fierbois, an intimate cham- ber concert co-presented with Prairie Debut, featuring obo- ist Caitlin Broms-Jacobs with collaborative pianist Madeline Hildebrand at the Laudamus Auditorium, Oct. 26, 2 p.m. 4) Manitoba has long been hailed as the “singing province,” and this year’s bumper crop of stirring choral concerts contributes to that well-deserved reputation. The Winni- peg Singers led by Yuri Klaz performs a celestial-inspired program, Skyscapes, under a starry night sky at Manitoba Museum’s Planetarium on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. See win- nipegsingers.com. 5) The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Anne Manson, kicks off its 2025/26 season with another superstar violinist, Canada’s own Kerson Leong, on Wednes- day, Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Crescent Arts Centre. Lauded by Le Monde for his “mixture of spontaneity and mastery, elegance, fantasy (and) intensity,” the opening program, titled Seasons Ascending, features the dynamo in Max Richter’s Seasons Recomposed, an arresting, contemporary mash-up of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Seem themco.ca. 6) Cello lovers, rejoice! Agassiz Chamber Music Festival presents its third International Cello Festival including five nightly concerts that run Oct. 28-Nov. 1 at various locales (see sidebar). Inter- nationally acclaimed artists include Colin Carr, Bryan Cheng, Cameron Crozman, David Liam Rob- erts, Juliana Moroz and Denise Djokic, among many others. Don’t miss the grand finale co-presented with the WSO, in- cluding an 80-mem- ber cello choir that closes the festival with a bang on Sat- urday, Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m. Check out www. agassizfestival.com/ international-cel- lo-festival-of-canada 7) Included with the fest is Dead of Winter’s The Ocean in a Drop. The vocal group founded by composer/conductor An- drew Balfour performs a soulful program of medieval and contemporary works on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., at the Desautels Concert Hall. Visit: deadofwinter.ca. 8) The venerable Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir — also led by Klaz — is celebrating its 103rd anniversary, bringing joy to the world with this year’s festive concert, Let there be Peace, taking place at the Crescent Arts Centre, with two HOLLY HARRIS Hello, cello FOR five glorious days and nights this fall, music lovers will be treated to some of the finest cellists in the world as Agassiz Chamber Music Festival presents its third International Cello Festival. The event (Oct. 28-Nov. 1 at a variety of local venues) features nightly chamber concerts, master classes, “cello chats” and even a “cello intervention,” as string players pop up in cafés, community cen- tres and other surprise locations at the stroke of noon for impromptu concerts. “We’ve got some fantastic artists coming this year,” artistic director/ cellist Paul Marleyn promises over the telephone from his Ottawa home, with an A-list of musicians hailing from Canada to Colombia, Germany to the U.K. Two previous iterations of the event — originally birthed as a legacy event honouring Winnipeg being named the “cultural capital of Canada” — were offered in 2014 and 2011, One sweet treat — literally — will be a series of early morning Bach Cafés, at which patrons can feast on coffee and croissants before digesting all six Bach solo cello suites performed by various artists. One highlight Marleyn is particularly looking forward to is Two Cellos, Two Worlds: Beyond the Classics (Oct 28). The program features Canadian virtuoso Raphael Weinroth-Browne and Austrian cellist-composer Matthias Bartolomey melding rock, jazz and world music influences with classical tradition. “Raphael is one of the most exciting young cellists worldwide,” Mar- leyn says. “He’s a very creative guy who just lives and breathes music. Matthias is also a fantastic composer.” Classical musicians swing hard with the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra in I’ve Got the World on a String (Oct 30), a dynamic program that includes Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue, among others. A Halloween Special: Wood-Shredding Cellists (Oct 31) spans Beethov- en to the Beatles, and includes a world première by Canadian composer Karen Sunabacka, who draws on her Métis and mixed European heritage for her latest creation. A second Sunabacka work will be heard during A Métis Celebration (Oct. 30), which also spotlights Métis cellist David Liam Roberts and elder Norman Meade. The icing on the cake will be toe-tapping tunes courtesy of Manitoba-born champion fiddler Jane Cory. The festival is bookended by the city’s two larger-scale orchestras: the first show, Opening Gala Concert: Between Earth and Sky, show- cases cellists Denise Djokic, Inbal Segev, Matthias Bartolomey, San- tiago Cañón-Valencia, Colin Carr and Cameron Crozman performing with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (Oct 28); and the second, Gala Finale: For Rita (Nov. 1), features Djokic, Cheng and Gerhardt appearing with the WSO alongside an 80-member cello orchestra. The powerful program, including works by Villa-Lobos and Strauss, is being dedicated to late Agassiz president and legendary Winnipeg arts leader Rita Menzies, who spearheaded the first two international cello festivals. “Rita made a massive contribution over decades to Winnipeg’s arts community,” Marleyn says of the beloved icon, who died in June. “We’ll definitely be doing more to honour her legacy in the future.” — Holly Harris MARK RASH PHOTO Juliana Moroz is part of the International Cello Festival this fall. Cameron Crozman MARK RASH PHOTOS Kerson Leong Bryan Cheng shows offered on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. More details can be found at thephil.ca/concerts. 9) In the wake of COVID-19, comedies sprang out of the rav- aged arts landscape as a salve for pandemic-weary spirits, with arts groups around the globe now daring to program darker, more gripping works. Manitoba Opera is among them, with its season-opener, Tosca. The Puccini work about a famous, fiery singer who lives and dies for love shows Nov. 22, 26 and 28 at the Centennial Concert Hall. This season also marks current interim artistic director Larry Des- rochers’s final season after 25 years at the helm as general manager and CEO. For more info, visit mbopera.ca. 10) In the so-cool-it-hurts category is GroundSwell’s North/ South, a contemporary program being held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery/Qaumajuq on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m., featur- ing throat songs by Nikki Komaksiutiksak and Caramello Swan. The program also includes group improvisations in- spired by the Inuit artwork on display in the gallery’s Main Hall. More details? See gswell.ca. This is only the tip of the iceberg, so get out there and enjoy live music — the arts are waiting for you! holly.harris@shaw.ca ARTS ● LIFE I MUSIC MUSIC MATTERS ;