The Winnipeg Symphony presents its 2nd annual Indigenous Festival in a range of venues from June 21 to 24. “This year’s Indigenous Festival celebrates music from across the four directions, creating new traditions, new friendships and new music,” says Festival Manager Vince Fontaine, also a member of Juno Award-winning group Eagle & Hawk. “We’re merging Western, First Nation and World cultures and instruments to create something new, something bigger,” says WSO Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate. “To have a new piece of art that comes out of the marriage of those different soundscapes is what I’m most excited about.”

Each concert night is specially themed (1. Ritual; 2. Friendship; 3. Songs; and 4. Celebration) and features such artists as Eagle & Hawk, Cree composer Andrew Balfour, erhu master George Gao, Don Amero, Viva Brasil, Shy-Anne Hovorka, Pura Fe and Jennifer Kreisberg from Ulali, Licanantay, and Juno Award-winning Digging Roots. The festival’s opening night also includes a very special performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, featuring an original dance performance by the Contemporary School of Dance and the Manitoba Aboriginal School of Dance choreographed by Odette Heyn-Penner and Buffy Handel, respectively. The festival also includes free outdoor performances on June 21, 22 and 23. For more information, please visit here.