Special Events

Swing into Spring

The eleventh annual “Swing into Spring” event was held Thursday, May 19, 2011 at the home of our gracious hostess, Jan Morden, in Old Tuxedo. This home is a lovely traditional mansion beautifully decorated with a contemporary flair. The funds raised at this luncheon are specifically earmarked for the WMC Scholarship fund. The awards go to young Manitobans pursuing their studies in music. Thank you very much to those who attended this worthy event.

The 2011 Scholarship winners can be heard at a holiday concert December 29, 7:00 pm, at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The five winners will perform and receive scholarships totalling $8,000.

Benefit Concert Review

The WMC Benefit Concert to support the WMC McLellan Competition for Solo Performance with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra took place on Monday, May 30th, 2011, 7:30 PM at Westworth United Church. The concert opened with Michelle Mourre on piano, Yuri Hooker on cello and Karl Stobbe on violin performing Antonín Dvořák's Piano Trio No. 4, Op. 90 "Dumky". The unseasonably rainy weather outside was soon forgotten as the audience was drawn into the trio's warm and vivid, vibrant tone.

Daniel Tselyakov, a young musician from Brandon, took the stage for a blistering recital of Sergey Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no 2. in G minor, op. 16. His performance was followed by Manitoba-born mezzo-soprano Donnalynn Grills, who began her three-song performance with "How Can I Keep from Singing", a traditional Christian hymn with music by Robert Wadsworth Lowry and a modern arrangement by Jeff Blumenkratz. Grills continued with a heartfelt rendition of "I Won't Mind", also by Blumenkratz, and brought the first half of the evening to a delightful close with the comedic "Alto's Lament", a piece by Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler.

The concert continued with an ensemble comprised of flautists Garrett Hudson and Charmaine Bacon and pianist Rachel Hinton. The trio gave a lushly textured recital of Ian Clarke's Maya before performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante K. 448, during which Hudson and Bacon captivated the audience with their harmony. The Flower Duet from Delibes' Lakmé sweetly and elegantly brought the first portion of the evening to a close.

Following intermission, pianist Nina Zhou delivered a passionate performance of Impromptu No. 1 in C minor, D. 899 by Schubert. Zhou was fully in control of her instrument and dazzled the audience with the mesmerizing rhythms of the piece.

Bacon and Hinton returned to the stage for the final performance of the evening, this time accompanied by Sean Taubner on cello, to perform Bohuslav Martinu's Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano. The artists gave a deeply felt performance of the piece. Their rendition of the emotional extremes within the piece proved a worthy finale to the exceptional evening.

The evening was organized under the direction of Carol Gamby, with Paul A. McCulloch serving as Stage Manager, and George Gamby serving as Master of Ceremonies.

Concert Review by Paul R. J. McCulloch