SAC opens this year’s concert series

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2023 (633 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steinbach Arts Council has opened this season’s concert series and audiences are in for a treat.

“These are world class acts that are coming right here to our own community,” Tara Schellenberg, performing arts coordinator said. “A lot of people for whatever reason aren’t really looking to travel to Winnipeg or other communities to get their entertainment. We work really hard to bring a wide variety of really, really top rate excellent performances right here to our community, so people don’t have to go far to see what there is out there.”

Opening the season is the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Holiday Tour on Nov. 30. According to Schellenberg, this has become a tradition at the SAC.

“It will include a local choir and a local celebrity performer who will be narrating A Night Before Christmas. We’ll have a kids contest that runs and a few of our school kids will be playing up there with the WSO at some point in the evening,” she said.

Following the WSO in the new year is Notas de 4 on Feb. 1. Although the group is based in Calgary the members come from all over North and South America.

“It’s a flamenco group and it’s just some hot Latin jazz when we’re all chilly in February and its mostly instrumental. They have a vocalist and there will be a flamenco dance and it’s just wonderful.”

The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre returns to SAC on March 11 with Mix Tapes from my Mom. Interspersed with select songs found on his mom’s old mix tapes, as well as a few original songs, Winnipeg theatre veteran Cory Wojcik, backed by a four-piece band, recounts a story of the most difficult, yet one of the most amazing, days of his life. It’s been described as “a show with songs you know and a story so unbelievable, it could only be true.” It originally debuted at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.

“Kind of very creative storytelling there,” said Schellenberg.

On April 17, a brass band will play classical hits reinterpreted for brass instruments. The quintet Buzz Brass (two trumpets, a French horn, trombone, and a bass trombone) has been playing together since 2002. They have performed in North America, China, and Europe garnering multiple awards and accolades.

“Some highly entertaining, and quite frankly, hilarious French-Canadian men reimagining the classical music that we all know and love,” said Schellenberg. “Whether it’s from loving classical music and knowing it well, some of these songs maybe you’ve heard done on Bugs Bunny Looney Toons that kind of thing. They’re just reimagining it for a brass quintet, so highly entertaining.”

Finishing off the concert series is Desautels Piano Trio on May 9. This trio features performers who are professors at the University of Manitoba School of Music. The trio consists of a pianist (Judy Kehler Siebert, who is from Steinbach), a celloist (Minna Rose Chung), and a violinist (Oleg Pohkanovski).

Season tickets are on sale right now. For adults the cost is $120 and $110 for seniors. Individual tickets are on sale for $30 adults or $15 for students.

Next year, SAC is hosting the Manitoba Showcase which is presented by the Manitoba Arts Network.

“They put on this showcase for the rural arts presenters in the province and even into Saskatchewan and Ontario. They ask performers from all over Canada to send in audition packages to be a part of their showcase and they select a group that gets to come and perform for all the presenters,” said Schellenberg.

The showcase will run from Oct. 27 to 28 at the SRSS theatre and tickets are $15 for one session or $30 for all three. Tickets can be purchased at the door. Each session will feature seven or eight performances.