Category: Music

Five full days of music, dance, presentations and cultural exchanges are planned as Brandon University (BU) prepares to celebrate Indigenous Awareness Week from Monday, Feb. 10 to Friday, Feb. 14.
Events will take place at various locations around campus, beginning on Monday with the start of the Brandon University Indigenous New Music Festival. The three-day festival will feature workshops, talks and evening concerts.

Under the auspices of the pro series and the School of Music, the Brandon University Indigenous New Music Festival will take place from Monday, February 10 to Wednesday, February 12. This year’s lineup includes two guest artists-in-residence—Juno Award–nominated Cree ‘cellist and composer Cris Derksen, Anishinaabe violist, media artist, grass dancer, and arts educator Melody McKiver—along with Métis composer Ian Cusson, Anishinaabe pianist and composer Beverley McKiver, the Sweet Medicine Singers, Jingle Dancer Shawntea Wilson, BU Knowledge Keeper Barb Blind, and other musical guests.
“When I was exploring the possibilities for this edition of the Festival, I was guided by the notion of building intercultural understanding, partnerships and mutual respect through concerts, workshops, and presentations,” said pianist Megumi Masaki, the Festival’s curator as well as the director of the Brandon University New Music Ensemble (BUNME).

A remarkable 50 years of service by Dr. Nancy Stanley was among the highlights as Brandon University recognized the efforts of longtime members of its faculty and staff on Thursday.
The University held its annual Long Service Employee Recognition Event, honouring those who reached benchmarks of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 or 50 years in 2019.

Bryn Blackwood, winner of the 2019 Eckhardt-Gramatté (E-Gré) National Music Competition, will return to Brandon to close-off his national winner’s tour as part of Brandon University’s (BU’s) Pro Series.
E-Gré National Music Competition winner Bryn Blackwood will perform at the Lorne Watson Recital Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Blackwood is in the midst of a cross-Canada tour (from Sackville, N.B.

Award-winning pianist and Brandon University (BU) alumnus Everett Hopfner is the new Interim Director of the Eckhardt-Gramatté Conservatory of Music at BU.
Hopfner has taught at the Conservatory since 2015 and has also been a sessional instructor at BU’s School of Music. Raised in the Manitoba community of Ste. Rose du Lac, he earned a Bachelor of Music at BU before completing his graduate studies in Germany.

The 2019-20 pro series season welcomes back a former Brandon University (BU) School of Music instructor — percussionist Ben Reimer and his Park Sounds colleague, violist and viola d’amore player Jennifer Thiessen for a concert on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at the Lorne Watson Recital Hall.
Both are Manitoba-raised – Thiessen hails from Austin and Reimer is from Winnipeg — but most recently, the two musicians have made Montreal their home.