Keyword: Music
CMU welcomes new faculty to start 2025/26 academic year
CMU enters a new academic year with both excitement and gratitude, welcoming five new faculty members whose expertise spans music, biology, social work, psychology, and chemistry.
Together, these teaching appointments highlight the university's ongoing commitment to interdisciplinary teaching, faith-integrated scholarship, and nurturing students in ways that prepare them to engage the world with curiosity, compassion, and purpose.
Finding Connection as an Outsider: How CMU Shaped a Public Servant
Marvin Marcial didn't mean to become a CMU student. What was initially supposed to be one music elective as a visiting student from the University of Winnipeg turned him into a full-time student who ended up graduating from CMU with a Bachelor of Music in 2007. "I ended up in choir and that changed the whole trajectory of my education, and I transferred over to CMU the next year," he says.
Education, Performance, and Healing: How CMU Shaped a Multifaceted Musician
Heitha Forsyth decided to go back to school almost a decade after graduating with her undergraduate degree. She had a partner, a mortgage, an established career, and school felt distant. "I had to basically pivot life as I knew it," she says. But CMU staff helped her with the adjustment. "When it came to any questions I had about my student loan or anything like that where I wasn't sure what to do and I was feeling vulnerable, there were people to catch me and keep me moving forward. I really appreciated that."
CMU taught alum how to think "inside out and upside down"
The current Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Winnipeg came to CMU from Providence University College, by way of the University of Manitoba, where he initially planned to become a dentist.
After a conversation with a friend attending CMU, who mentioned a course on the history of rock music, he quickly changed direction. That pivot eventually led him to CMU's Music Department in the early 2000s, where he graduated in 2006.
Sunday@CMU: August 2025
Voices of the CMU Community
This month on Sunday@CMU, we highlight student voices from the CMU community. Listen to stories produced by Communications and Media students in CMU's radio team course and hear performances from this year's 20th annual Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition finals.
#myCMUlife | “Well… it depends…”: Four insights into studying music therapy at CMU
Four years ago, I had never heard of music therapy. Now, I can't imagine doing anything else.
In the fall of 2017, I was heading into the last year of my Bachelor of Music in piano at King's University in Edmonton, trying to figure out what to do afterwards. As I skimmed through a promotional brochure about what to do with a music degree, the words "music therapy" caught my eye. I was instantly intrigued. I remember phoning a music therapist to get more information. When I asked what a typical music therapy workday might look like, she replied with, "Well... it depends...." While I thought this answer was profoundly unhelpful in the moment, I've seen how true it is after studying music therapy at CMU.
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2025 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition
In its 20th year, the finalists of the 2025 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition were:
CMU's Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition crowns 20th champion (Classic 107)
The music school at Canadian Mennonite University marked a significant milestone last week as it presented the 20th edition of the Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition.
The competition was founded in 2006 by Peter Janzen in memory of his wife Verna Mae, who was deeply embedded in the Mennonite music community before her death in 1989.
"This competition is a small way that my mom and dad could give back to CMU and Winnipeg," said Peter and Verna Mae's child CJ Janzen in a statement. "Throughout her 13-year battle with cancer, music was her balm, her joy, and comfort."
The competition is an annual highlight for students in CMU's music community, including this year's winner, soprano Julia Norris.
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CMU student composers to showcase their works (Classic 107)
The next generation of Manitoban composers will be on display this week at Canadian Mennonite University's Laudamus Auditorium.
Composition students at CMU's School of Music will showcase their latest works on March 12 at 11:30 AM as they continue to discover their musical voices and the ways in which they want to utilize it.
"My work actually started in high school when I pretty much accidentally composed my first original pop song," shared Keira Medina in an interview on Morning Light. "I was like, 'OK, well, I composed a song. So now what? I want to compose more!'"
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Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition
The lovely sounds of sonatas, cantatas, and melodies have resonated through the halls of the Laudamus Auditorium every spring for two decades now as Canadian Mennonite University's School of Music celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition.
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