Keyword: Music Program

CMU alumnus gives new voice to historic Métis anthem

Tuesday, September 29, 2026 @ 10:46 AM

CMU alumnus Erik Gillespie spent last year working as a restaurant server, but this summer he took on a tall order of a different kind: updating a 200-year-old anthem of the Red River Métis for a new generation.

The historic anthem, "La Chanson de la Grenouillère" ("The Song of Frog Plain"), is one of the best-known pieces of Métis oral tradition. It was composed by Pierre Falcon, a Métis fur trader, poet, and songwriter, following the Victory at Frog Plain on June 19, 1816.

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CMU composer gives new life to opera City Workers in Love

Thursday, September 17, 2026 @ 6:12 PM

Construction workers singing opera? It's a combination likely to elicit a double take, but it's at the heart of the 1992 comic opera City Workers in Love.

Composed by CMU Associate Professor of Music Neil Weisensel with a libretto by the late Michael Cavanagh, the one-act comic opera tells the story of a street repair crew and their pursuits of love and public service during a typical day.

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Violinist wins 2026 Verna and Peter Janzen Music Competition

Thursday, March 26, 2026 @ 1:38 PM

The Verna and Peter Janzen Music Competition at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) brought together a range of student performers, with violinist Bella-Sophia Rogers earning first place at the finals held in the CMU Laudamus Auditorium on Thursday, March 19, 2026.

"The performance was exhilarating. I have performed for larger audiences before, but never one so full of friendly faces, and as soon as I looked out into the crowd it stopped being about impressing an anonymous crowd of faces and became an opportunity to show all my friends who I really am," Rogers said. "I was floored when it was announced that I had won—everyone performed fabulously and I was honoured to stand on that stage in front of my friends and colleagues for such a triumphant moment."

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