Keyword: School of Music

2024 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition (video and photos)

View the full performance of each finalist, hear the jurors' comments, and learn the outcome of the competition.

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From napkin sketch to piano concerto: two CMU students' collaborative journey

What began as a student's rough sketch on a napkin has now grown into a sweeping piano concerto commissioned by the Mennonite Community Orchestra (MCO).

Written by Liam Berry and performed by Georg Neuhofer, "Rains Dance" is a piece that carries great significance for the two Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) students. It's the consolidation of musical congeniality, collaboration, and years of friendship.

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New Indigenous opera is a story of good medicine

This fall, Manitoba Opera will be performing the world premiere of Li Keur: Riel's Heart of the North, the first full-scale Indigenous-led opera presented on a Canadian mainstage. It celebrates Métis women, languages, music, and culture, with libretto written by Métis poet and scholar Dr. Suzanne Steele and music composed by Métis fiddler Alex Kusturok and CMU faculty Neil Weisensel.

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Pianist wins 2023 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition

A pianist from Inglis, Manitoba is the winner of the 18th annual Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU).

Georg Neuhofer's performance in the finals, held on Thursday, March 23 in CMU's Laudamus Auditorium, earned him first place and the $700 prize that comes with it.

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2023 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition (video, photos)

View the full performance of each finalist, hear the jurors' comments, and learn the outcome of the competition.

Continue Reading

Faculty-alumni collaboration explores decolonizing music education in the classroom

Studying music education means learning scales and chord progressions, practicing how to move your hands while conducting, and planning out class schedules. But sometimes it also involves examining and re-evaluating the entire education system at its core.

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Pianist wins 2022 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition

A pianist from Fort Frances, Ontario is the winner of the 17th annual Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU).

Anna Schwartz's performance in the finals, held on Friday, April 8 in CMU's Laudamus Auditorium, earned her first place and the $700 prize that comes with it.

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CMU student and instructor make music come alive through synesthesia, art

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.

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2022 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition Finals (video)

View the full performance of each finalist, hear the jurors' comments, and learn the outcome of the competition.

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Dual winners mark the 16th annual Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition

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."

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