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Keyword: Music
CMU student and instructor make music come alive through synesthesia, art
Tuesday, May 3, 2022 @ 10:00 AM
Imagine if you could see sound. When Anna Schwartz listens to music, she not only hears the different instruments, keys, and dynamics—she sees them. That's because she has synesthesia, a neurological condition in which information entering a person's brain stimulates multiple senses at once.
Only four percent of people worldwide are synesthetes. For some, biting into a juicy apple might cause them to see a specific image, while others might experience a physical feeling of touch when they hear a certain word. Schwartz sees a kaleidoscope of colours when she listens to music.
Read More2022 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition Finals (video)
Friday, April 29, 2022 @ 12:00 AM
View the full performance of each finalist, hear the jurors' comments, and learn the outcome of the competition.
Read MoreCMU alumni collaborate on book featuring women in music
Wednesday, December 22, 2021 @ 8:21 AM
A vibrant children's book featuring 26 women in music will soon be hitting bookstore shelves, and it was created by two CMU alumni. Anneli Loepp Thiessen (CMU '18) first wrote The ABCs of Women in Music in fall 2020 as a creative project for a feminist theories class at the University of Ottawa, where she is a PhD student in interdisciplinary music research.
Read MoreDual winners mark the 16th annual Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition
Tuesday, April 6, 2021 @ 2:47 PM
For the past 16 years, the CMU School of Music hosts the Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition for music students capable of performing at a high skill level. It is a time, as adjudicator Henrietta Schellenberg puts it, "of comradery and competition for music students, a chance to bring their art to the public, a jewel in the life of the musical calendar at CMU."
Read MoreFinal Performances from the 2021 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition (videos)
Thursday, March 25, 2021 @ 7:30 AM
The 16th annual Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition finals are held virtually in 2021, with performanaces recorded to comply with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
This year's edition of the competition features two seperate categories and winners in both voice and piano performances. The winner of each category is announced by adjudicators Henriette Schellenberg (voice) and Dr. Edmund Dawe (piano) at the conclusion of each video below.
Read MoreStudent assistantship with Li Keur project yields golden opportunities for two PACTS majors
Monday, October 5, 2020 @ 12:00 PM
Peacebuilding students Bryna Link and Hannah Connelly describe joys and challenges of their work on the Li Keur Podcast, interviewing creators and collaborators from the eponymous new opera.
Bryna Link and Hannah Connelly joined the production team of celebrated new opera Li Keur: Riel's Heart of the North as student assistants back in July. What began as a summer position—and for Connelly, a practicum placement ahead of graduation next Spring—has developed into a long-term student assistantship that will take both women all the way through Summer 2021.
Read MoreCMU choir continues to connect during cancelled tour
Friday, July 10, 2020 @ 11:39 AM
From April 27 to May 4, the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) Singers were to spend a week singing and travelling across the country, all the way from Manitoba to British Columbia. Unfortunately, the choir tour had to be cancelled—one of the many casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But that didn't stop the choir from connecting. Instead of boarding a bus every morning, the singers were greeted daily by a new email from Dr. Janet Brenneman, Associate Professor of Music and conductor of the CMU Singers.
Read MoreProduction Update: Dr. Suzanne Steele and Neil Weisensel’s Li Keur, Riel’s Heart of the North
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 @ 12:00 AM
Two CMU Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies (PACTS) students will assist completion of Indigenous Language pronunciation database essential to new opera.
Co-creators of the new opera Li Keur, Riel's Heart of the North—Dr. Suzanne Steele, Métis poet and scholar, composer Neil Weisensel, Adjunct Professor of Music at CMU—have hired two CMU students to learn and assist on the opera's production team as they move towards the show's first staged production in 2021. Senior PACTS students Bryna Link of Peguis First Nation and Hannah Connelly of Saskatchewan will take on the roles of Communications Assistant and Production Assistant respectively.
Read MoreCMU’s Anna Schwartz wins Canada Music Week’s Student Composer Competition for Manitoba
Friday, June 19, 2020 @ 9:02 AM
Anna Schwartz is drinking in the opportunities CMU's vibrant musical community provides. Following her provincial win last month, her original work "Prairie Sunrise" now goes to compete at the national level.
CMU's Anna Schwartz has taken first place at the provincial level of this year's Canada Music Week Student Composer Competition, hosted by the Manitoba Registered Music Teachers' Association. Schwartz's original composition for orchestra, "Prairie Sunrise," earned $200 in prize money and will now go on to be entered in the nation-wide summer competition. Schwartz also entered an original piece for choir that garnered honourable mention.
Read MoreCMU School of Music alumna awarded prestigious Yamaha Fellowship
Tuesday, May 26, 2020 @ 9:18 AM
CMU alumna Anneli Loepp Thiessen has been awarded the University of Rochester's coveted Yamaha Fellowship: a full-ride scholarship to study for one intensive week at the university's Eastman Leadership Academy this summer.
Limited to just 25 people, the program will include mentorship from faculty, training in essential skills like grant-writing, and support in developing a personal project of each Fellow's choice. Loepp Thiessen says her passion project will, "as always," have a feminist objective:
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