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Keyword: music
Experience the sounds of Christmas throughout CMU
Wednesday, November 4, 2026 @ 11:12 AM
The halls of Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) will come alive with music on Saturday, November 28, as the university welcomes the community for its annual Christmas at CMU celebration.
With Christmas trees, garlands, and twinkling lights throughout Assiniboine Castle, visitors can enjoy performances by CMU students, faculty, and staff, including choirs, concert band, and handbell ensemble. The celebration also features a reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas for children and an opportunity for everyone to join in singing Christmas carols.
Continue ReadingMadly Friesen (CMU '20, BMus) - Bringing New Sounds to Faraday School (Winnipeg School Division)
Wednesday, October 21, 2026 @ 10:19 AM
At Faraday School, the music room is a place where students explore creativity through music, dance, drama, and movement. Teacher Madly Friesen creates opportunities for students to express themselves, collaborate, and find a sense of belonging through the performing arts.
Starting their second teaching year at Faraday, Friesen is already celebrating significant milestones. Students won the CBC Music Class Challenge with their original song, "Rise to the Challenge", and the school received an $18,000 MusiCounts Innovation Grant to expand its music program.
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Continue ReadingCMU 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.
Continue ReadingCMU 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.
Continue ReadingNew podcast offers real talk for Canadian music therapists
Wednesday, August 26, 2026 @ 11:55 AM
CMU professors Lee-Anne Dowsett and Michelle Yaciuk know the music therapy world inside and out. On their new podcast, they're pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to work in the field.
The duo launched the first episode of Music Therapy Unplugged: Real Talk for New Professionals on August 4. The subsequent six episodes that make up the first season will be released biweekly on Tuesdays on the podcast's website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Continue ReadingCMU alumnus is transforming patient care through music one year after graduation
Monday, July 6, 2026 @ 4:09 PM
Just one year after graduating from CMU with a Bachelor of Music Therapy, Loghan Puhach is working in what he calls "a dream come true."
Upon completion ofhis internship at Riverview Health Centre in Winnipeg, Puhach successfully advocated for the creation of a full-time music therapy position. Today, as a Certified Music Therapist, he brings comfort, connection, and healing to patients and their families while helping expand access to music therapy across the health centre.
Continue ReadingCMU student's vision becomes a collaborative songwriting retreat
Thursday, June 11, 2026 @ 3:32 PM
At the end of April, 14 CMU students participated in a transformative collaborative songwriting retreat with renowned Indigenous musicians and CMU faculty members. The event was conceptualized by alumna Bryna Link, who convocated with CMU's Class of 2026 just days before, and brought to life by Link and CMU Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Anneli Loepp Thiessen.
Continue ReadingViolinist 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."
Continue Reading2026 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition (video, photos)
Thursday, March 26, 2026 @ 11:20 AM
View DetailsVerna Wiebe | 2025 Kay and Lorne Dick Teaching Excellence Award recipient (video)
Monday, March 16, 2026 @ 2:12 PM
Verna Wiebe, Teaching Assistant Professor of Music, worked at CMU and its predecessor college CMBC for 37 years, starting in 1988 and retiring in 2025. She and Dr. Paul Doerksen, Associate Professor of Theology and Anabaptist Studies and P.M. Friesen Co-Chair in Biblical and Theological Studies, are co-recipients of the 2025 Kay and Lorne Dick Teaching Excellence Award.
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