Made in Manitoba: The Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival Celebrates Manitoba Composers with a Belated Manitoba 150 Celebration
Written by Chris Wolf Wednesday, Aug 04 2021, 5:33 AM
Chris Wolf had the opportunity to chat with Clear Lake Chamber music Festival Director Alla Turbanova and concert host Paul Shore about this year’s festival which runs from August 8th to August 21st
Since 2006 the Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival has been entertaining audiences in the Westman region of the province. Last year the festival had to take a year hiatus because of the restrictions that the COVID 19 Pandemic put on gatherings. 2021 marks the return of the Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival; and they are back and better than ever! This year’s festival puts Manitoba Composers front and centre in celebration of a belated Manitoba 150. The Festival also pays homage to a composer who celebrated his 250th last year but did not get his proper due; that composer being Ludwig van Beethoven.
This year’s Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival (CLCMF) Concerts are all online, which creates a whole new world of possibilities for both performers and composers. Audiences from around the world can now be exposed to Manitoba performers and composers. As CLCMF Director Alla Turbanova says “I already have some responses from Italy, and from Russia with people saying ‘we don’t want to miss your concerts’ which is just great.” Locally, it means that audiences from Winnipeg and the Eastern parts of Manitoba can now see some of the amazing performances that the Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival has become renowned for in the Westman region.
The online element affords the festival some very creative programming options. There is really something for everybody! Music from some of Manitoba’s top tier Composers such as Jim Hiscott, T. Patrick Carrabre, Ken Nichols, Sid Robinovitch, David R. Scott, Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt Gramatte, to name just a few, is combined with stories of Manitoba’s rich history.
There is a movie night on the 13th of August which will feature the film “Wheat City: 1900s, making Modern Brandon.” The film will be played alongside a musical score written by Manitoba composer Kenneth Nichols.
There are also performances of works by both students and professionals of music written by Manitoba’s rich wealth of composers. “Manitoba has a big, huge, amount of musical treasures which is really neccasary to showcase…composers have created a large amount of works and it is really a Manitoba Treasure,” says Alla Turbanova
There is also music by composers such as Chopin and Beethoven. A belated birthday celebration for Beethoven will take place in the 4th concert which takes place of Tuesday, August 17th. This concert will feature Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival Co-Artistic directors Daniel and Alexander Tselyakov in a program that features Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto, and his remarkable Moonlight Sonata.
This year the CLCMF welcomes Winnipeg dancer Kathleen Hiley as she dances to music of local composers, as well as the music of Chopin. These performances will feature some of her own choreography, but also some resurrected choreography that was done by the legendary dancer and ballet master Isadora Duncan.
Another world class performer that will take to the virtual stage for the CLCMF this year will be world renowned Clarinetist James Campbell, performing along-side his son Graham Campbell. The father and son duo will perform a light-heated coffee concert on the morning of Saturday, August 14th.
Great music, film, history, dance…there is really something for everyone in this year’s Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival! The concerts are being offered for free, but a suggested donation of 20 dollars would be greatly appreciated to help keep this amazing quality of programming and performances going well into the next several years.
For a complete list of concert dates and links to the concert downloads click here:
To hear Chris Wolf’s conversation with Alla Turbanova and Paul Shore click here: