Andrew Balfour & Dead of Winter
ANDREW BALFOUR
Andrew Balfour is a self-taught composer/conductor/singer/sound designer with a large body of choral, instrumental, electro-acoustic and orchestral work. Andrew specializes in creating ‘concept concerts’, many influenced by his love of baroque and early music and infused with Indigenous subject matter and collaborators. The Globe and Mail contributor, Carol Toller, says, “There are things you expect to hear from a classical-music composer like Andrew Balfour: that he grew up singing in a church choir. That he began playing an instrument at an early age – in his case, trumpet. That while other kids were grinding out guitar licks, miming Bruce Springsteen or David Bowie (he grew up in the 1970s), Balfour was air-conducting Beethoven.”
All have contributed to what he has become today: a highly sought-after composer who fuses classical-music tradition with Indigenous texts and themes to create works that range from shimmering soundscapes to unsettling sociopolitical commentary.
DEAD OF WINTER
Dead of Winter is a vocal ensemble based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, founded in 1996 by composer Andrew Balfour. Known for innovative programming and concept concerts, the group weaves together early music, original compositions, and powerful cross-cultural storytelling.
MEL BRAUN
Baritone Mel Braun is a versatile performer well-known to Canadian audiences for his many broadcasts and performances of the Masterworks of Bach and Handel, having appeared with Tafelmusik, Calgary Bach Festival, Winnipeg Baroque Festival, Pro Coro, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, among others. New Music performances, another of his interests, have taken him to Banff Centre, Manitoba Opera, Winnipeg’s New Music Festival, Groundswell, and Toronto’s New Music Gallery. As a recitalist, he is renowned for his creative approach to Art Song, his most recent project a re-imagining of Schubert’s Winterreise in collaboration with pianist Laura Loewen, Winnipeg rock band VVonder, and Governor General Award-winning poet Hannah Green.
As a teacher, Mel heads up the Vocal program at the Desautels Faculty of Music, a program noted for its collaborative and holistic approach to training young singers. Many of his students have gone on to significant careers as performers and educators. Among Mel’s many initiatives at the Faculty, the most recent is the Micro-Certificate in Songmaking, a course that trains local Singer-Songwriters in Songwriting, Music Production, and the Business of Music. As a music director, Mel looks after the operatic ensembles at the Desautels Faculty of Music, as well as being Co-Artistic Director of Winnipeg Dead of Winter Ensemble, an ensemble devoted to Indigenous/Settler collaborations that premieres new works by renowned Cree composer Andrew Balfour.
