PROGRAM

Andrew Balfour* – Ambe (Welcome Song) 

Franjo Dugan – Molitva (Prayer) 

Laura Hawley* – Rise Up My Love 
Soloist – Patricia Wray, alto; Marni Enns, soprano

Ola Gjeilo – Prelude

Ola Gjeilo – Ubi caritas 

Anton Bruckner – Locus iste

Javier Busto – Ave Maria

Kathleen Allan* – Come and I Will Sing You 

Eleanor Daley* – Grandmother Moon 

Jocelyn Morlock* – One Black Spike 

Sid Robinovitch* – Ta-Tikee-Tei

Astor Piazzolla – La Muerte del Angel 

John Lennon & Paul McCartney:
Can't Buy Me Love
Yesterday 
Soloist – Ainsley Wray, soprano

Blackbird 
Eleanor Rigby
Soloist – Paul Forget, baritone

Vladimir Berdovic – Lindjo (an old dance from Dubrovnik) 

Trent Worthington* – Flunky Jim
Soloist – Bruce Waldie, baritone

Hall Johnson – Ain't Got Time to Die 
Soloists – Doug Pankratz, tenor; Marni Enns, soprano; Ainsley Wray, soprano 

Moses Hogan – Battle of Jericho 
Soloist – Marni Enns, soprano

Moses Hogan – Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel 
Soloists – Marni Enns, soprano; Célina Morphy-Siemens, soprano; Angela Neufeld, alto
*Canadian composer
 

The Winnipeg Singers consists of 24 professionally trained voices, performing music that spans the times from the Renaissance to the present. Each year the choir commissions new Canadian works and premieres other new works for its Manitoba audiences. It presents a concert series each year, engaging some of North America's finest musicians as guests. The Winnipeg Singers have performed joint concerts with such diverse organizations as Shakespeare in the Ruins, The Ron Paley Trio, MusikBarock Ensemble, Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers and Les danseurs de la rivière Rouge. The Singers regularly appear as guests of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and have given concerts and workshops for local social agencies, business firms, and high schools.

The Winnipeg Singers, established in 1972, has twice been recognized for its excellence in choral music by the Canada Council with the awarding of the Healey Willan prize. The choir is regularly heard on local and national CBC radio. In July 2005, the choir represented Canada at the 6th Taipei International Choral Festival and at the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music in Kyoto. In July 2016, the choir toured Germany, Austria and Italy. At the 2016 International Choral Festival in Florence, Italy, The Winnipeg Singers was recognized with the “most outstanding choir” award. In 2019 the choir toured Spain and Finland and was awarded the "best choir award" at the Barcelona International choral festival. The group is in the planning stages of its next international tour.

Yuri Klaz was born in Petrozavodsk, Russia, where he was a graduate of the music college and the conservatory of music. He received his Masters degree in conducting at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. In 1982 he became an associate professor of choral and orchestral conducting at the Petrozavodsk Conservatory. In 1987 Mr. Klaz was appointed the artistic director and conductor of the Chamber Choir of the Karelian Art Centre in Petrozavodsk. Under his direction, the choir led an active concert life and participated in national (Russia) and international concert tours and competitions in Germany, Finland, Estonia, Ireland, and Norway, where the choir received numerous awards.

In 1995, by decree of President Boris Yeltzin, Mr. Klaz was awarded the prestigious title, "Honoured Artist of Russia" and received a silver medal for exceptional achievement in the development of art in Russia. Mr. Klaz came to Canada in 2000 to become the artistic director and conductor of the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir.

In addition to the Philharmonic concert series, he has prepared the choir for performances with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Brahms’ German Requiem in 2003, Mozart’s Requiem in 2006 and most recently Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony. He has conducted performances at the WSO New Music Festival each year since 2001. Mr. Klaz made his debut as conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra to critical acclaim in a concert featuring The Winnipeg Singers and the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir in March 2005. In 2006 Mr. Klaz made his conducting debut with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in Mozart’s Mass in C minor (Robert Levin edition) again with the combined forces of The Winnipeg Singers and The Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir.

In April of 2003, Mr. Klaz was appointed the artistic director and conductor of The Winnipeg Singers. In the past four years he has conducted the Singers in performances of many major choral masterpieces including Bach’s Mass in B minor and Christmas Oratorio and Rachmaninov’s All Night Vigil and the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

Mr. Klaz has attended four World Symposia on Choral Music, most recently Kyoto in 2005, where he conducted The Winnipeg Singers, honoured as an invited choir. He has written numerous articles devoted to the choral and artistic activities of Sibelius, Kuula, and Madetoja. An active teacher and conductor, Mr. Klaz has toured the northern United States giving conducting seminars. Since his arrival in Canada, Mr. Klaz has attended two Association of Canadian Choral Conductors (ACCC) conventions, 2004 in Winnipeg, where he was a clinician and 2006 in Victoria.