ABOUT US
AGASSIZ CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
The Agassiz Chamber Music Festival was founded by cellist Paul Marleyn, the Festival’s Artistic Director, in collaboration with the University of Manitoba School of Music (now The Desautels Faculty of Music) in June 2000. The Festival is named after Lake Agassiz, the ancient and vast lake that covered large parts of Manitoba as well as parts of Alberta, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Paul Marleyn’s vision for the Festival is to provide concerts of an international level in what was once part of Lake Agassiz - in the very centre of Canada, i.e., Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Festival considers it a great privilege to invite internationally acclaimed artists to perform and share their artistry and passion with Manitoba artists and audiences. The Festival has built a stellar reputation for chamber music initiatives in Manitoba. In 2004 the Festival collaborated with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Lake Winnipeg Foundation in the premier performance of Andrew Balfour’s "The Voice of the Lake" and in 2010 the Festival organized a SOCAN sponsored Composer Residency with Steven Gellman.
The Festival has been instrumental in the presentation of the International Cello Festival of Canada in 2011 and in 2014 in collaboration with the Winnipeg Arts Council. In addition to performances of cello sonatas and concertos, both cello festivals featured master classes, competitions, outdoor performances and premieres of cello orchestral works: a double cello concerto by Jocelyn Morlock in 2011 and a triple cello concerto by Vincent Ho in 2014.
To date the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival has premiered 15 commissioned works by Canadian composers and has performed an additional 72 Canadian works.
The Agassiz Chamber Music Festival provides:
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learning opportunities with informal talks and interviews during concerts
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master class opportunities with esteemed performers
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performance opportunities for works of living composers in Winnipeg and Manitoba
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a wide spectrum of chamber music masterworks and rarely heard works
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opportunities for emerging artists to present their work in recital and to work with established artists
Who We Are
Agassiz Music Inc.
Rita Menzies - President
Greg Cox - Treasurer
Susan Harasym - Secretary
Paul Marleyn - Past President
Directors
Luis Almeida
William Gange
Paul Marleyn
Anne Ratuski
Nicola Schaefer
Andrea Ratuski
Lori Stewart
Administration
Paul Marleyn - Artistic Director
Andrew Thomson - General Manager
Andrea Spiers - Graphic & Website Design
Paul Vinluan - Stage Manager
Susan Bond - Marketing Consultant
Ivan Hughes - Videographer
Dan Donahue - Audio Technician