AFTERNOONS WITH THE MCO!

IT’s THE MANITOBA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA’s 50th ANNIVERSARY! Our Spring 2023 matinees are a great way to get students inspired and enthused just in time for spring! Students will experience new possibilities for making, creating, connecting and responding to music, and gain first-hand knowledge by interacting with a fascinating group of musicians and creators!

AN EXCITING NEW OFFER! If you sign up for one of our spring matinees before January 13th, the MCO’s Director of Education and Community Engagement will visit your classroom for a FREE workshop or clinic!

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1 SOLD OUT! EQUINOX: CHAMBER AFTERNOON AT THE WAG / MARCH 22nd

Kerey Harper began making music in high school by recording rain, stones, and natural sounds in his northern First Nations community of St. Theresa’s Point. Today, he blends electronics, recorded sounds, and string orchestra to create amazing soundscapes that can feel like walks through nature. He’s one of four young composers featured at this concert, alongside Chris Byman, Kris Wachniak, Corie-Rose Soumah, and more. As you’re arriving at the concert, a wonderful music video featuring music by composer Nahre Sol will be playing, featuring a mysterious adventurer running through the Rocky Mountains and made in collaboration with the MCO. With around half a million subscribers, Nahre Sol is one of the world’s most popular music YouTubers. This concert takes place in the Muriel Richardson Auditorium at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Information for teachers

We’re excited to present this concert as a school matinee, offering the unique opportunity for young people to experience new sounds and unique combinations of the families of instruments, with wonderful (and surprising) new tones, textures, rhythms, metres, harmonies, and expression. Students will have the opportunity to engage with young, local composers and discover a broader range of possibilities for creativity, including connections to popular forms of music. In the small setting of the Muriel Richardson Auditorium, students will be closer to the action as they watch professional musicians performing in smaller groups, referred to as chamber music or small ensembles; students will gain insight into the skills and experience required to play this challenging form of music independently – there’s no conductor! We’re confident that your students will remember this concert many years from now!

2 CELLIST CRIS DERKSEN AND VIOLINIST AISSLINN NOSKY / APRIL 12th

IN A WORLD WHERE ALMOST EVERYTHING — people, music, cultures — get labelled and slotted into simple categories, Cris Derksen represents a challenge. Originally from Northern Alberta, the cellist and composer comes from a line of chiefs from North Tallcree Reserve on her father’s side and a line of Mennonite homesteaders on her mother’s. Derksen, who’s worked with Kanye West and Tanya Tagaq, braids traditional and contemporary music. She weaves her classical background and Indigenous ancestry with unbelievable electronic sounds. At this concert, she joins violinist/conductor Aisslinn Nosky and the MCO to perform a new cello concerto by Cris! Aisslinn and the orchestra will also perform works by Joseph Bologne (1745-1799) and Georg Philippe Telemann (1681-1767).

Information for teachers

The matinee features a refreshing combination of historical and brand-new music – the perfect opportunity for introducing students to the range of possibilities and experiences that are available to them as young musicians and concertgoers. There will be plenty of opportunities to explore elements of the Learning Butterfly as students are encouraged to listen deeply, observe carefully, gain context, make connections, respond and reflect, and develop curiosity for life-long engagement and learning. Students will meet musicians who present new and unique ways to create and make music; composer Cris Derksen will be playing solo cello for her new composition written just for our orchestra, and Aisslinn Nosky conducts the orchestra while playing violin!

SPECIAL OFFER: FREE WORKSHOPS AND CLINICS!

F ill out the school order form for one of our spring matinees before 13 January 2023, to take advantage of our FREE pre- or post-concert workshop/clinic offer!

What does it involve?

Our Director of Education and Community Engagement, Dr. Suzu Enns, will collaborate with you to identify and understand your interests, needs, objectives and students’ entering behaviour in order to determine how we can best support you and your students. Then she’ll develop and deliver a workshop or clinic tailored just for you!

We know that every student, teacher, classroom, school, and community is unique (how wonderful that is)! With this in mind, we strive to develop and deliver a variety of music enrichment and educational programming for students and audience members of all ages. Whether you and your students are just starting your musical exploration, or your students are preparing for a career in music, we are here to support, supplement, and work with you as partners in music education and advocacy!

The workshop and clinic offerings range from pre-concert workshops introducing students to the sights, sounds and people of the orchestra and the concert-going experience, to band and orchestra clinics and sectionals.

MCO LEARNING RESOURCES!

Are you thinking of attending an MCO matinee for the first time with your students? Or maybe you’re back for the first time in a few years? It’s a perfect time to check out our learning resources, available 1-2 weeks before the matinee and emailed directly to your inbox. These accessible resources offer students, teachers, parents and caregivers the chance to learn more about the orchestra, instruments, musicians, repertoire, composers, and much more. The learning resources connect to the Manitoba music curriculum and the wings of the Music Butterfly to deepen musical experiences and foster lifelong learning! Visit https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/arts/music/index.html.

Making The learner develops language and practices for making music.

Creating The learner generates, develops, and communicates ideas for creating music.

Connecting The learner develops understandings about the significance of music by making connections to various times, places, social groups, and cultures.

Responding The learner uses critical reflection to inform music learning and to develop agency and identity.

BUS SUBSIDIES

Having trouble meeting concert costs? Ask us about our ticket and bus subsidies. Please contact the MCO’s Director of Education & Community Engagement, Suzu Enns, at 204-783-7377 (ext. 106) for more details.

 

Coming soon!