Tom Allen in Winnipeg: J.S. Bach's Long Walk in the Snow

WMC is thrilled to present Tom Allen in a performance of J.S. Bach's Long Walk in the Snow. CBC listeners know Tom Allen as the host of About Time, heard weekday afternoons on Radio Two. Since 2010, in collaboration with his life partner Lori Gemmell (harpist), Allen has been creating "chamber musicals" that mix storytelling, history and music. J.S. Bach's Long Walk in the Snow has enjoyed performances from B.C. to Nfld, and wherever they go, Tom and Lori team up with top local musicians. In Winnipeg, they'll be joined by singer Catherine Wreford, Karl Stobbe on violin, and Madeline Hildebrand on piano. Tickets at J.S. Bach's Long Walk in the Snow | Wmcwpg

The Story:

Johann Sebastian Bach is usually seen as the wise, old man of Western Music, but he didn’t begin his working life that way.  At 18, and in his first job as an organist, still barely beginning life as a composer but already a spectacular performer, the young genius got into such trouble that the only thing he could do was to walk away. With glorious music from Tom, Lori and a cast of brilliant musical friends, JS Bach’s Long Walk in the Snow  takes you along on that trip to bring that troubled young man in from the cold.

Check out more details here, and come join the journey! The Musicians: Tom Allan was born in Montreal and attended Marianapolis College and McGill before finishing degrees at Boston University and Yale. He worked as a bass trombonist in New York City "when there were still places you just didn’t go", then in Toronto and on tour with the Great Lakes Brass. He has been with the CBC since his 30th birthday where we can still hear him daily as the host of About Time. Tom is a consummate storyteller. The author of three books, he's also been a Resident Artist with Soulpepper Theatre, delivered storytelling workshops for university music programs and the Banff Centre, been named an honourary Doctor of Letters by Thompson Rivers University, hosted countless concerts across the country and written a series of cabaret storytelling shows he calls Chamber Musicals. These include From Weimar to Vaudeville, The Missing Pages, A Poe Cabaret, Being Lost, and the latest: J.S. Bach’s Long Walk in the Snow. Tom lives in Toronto with harpist Lori Gemmell, their son, and a very enthusiastic dog.

Lori Gemmell started as a street-corner busker in Montreal. Now Principal Harpist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, she has toured Europe and Japan with the Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, and teaches both privately and at Wilfred Laurier University. Lori appears regularly with the Toronto Symphony and National Ballet orchestras, and as a member of the Four Seasons Harp Quartette. Her most recent recording is Canadian Music for Harp. She has also recorded as a soloist on Prelude, with Jennifer Swartz on their harp duo recording The Garden of Peacocks, with Trumpeter Larry Larson on Divertissement, on the soundtrack recording for Bohemians in Brooklyn, and with songwriters Kevin Fox and Feist.

Winnipeggers know Catherine Wreford for all kinds of reasons! A performer, teacher, adjudicator, stretch expert, mentor and motivational speaker, her expertise and her life experiences have taken her around the world. She has performed in the Stratford Festival, in the Broadway revival of 42nd Street, and was in the original cast of the 2002 revival of Oklahoma! Other notable theatre credits include the role of Peggy Sawyer in the U.S. tour of 42nd Street, Cassie in A Chorus Line, and Roxie in Chicago. In 2013 Catherine was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and given two to six years to live. She decided to return to her performing roots in Canada, ultimately settling in Winnipeg. In 2022, she teamed up with her best friend to win Season 8 of The Amazing Race Canada. Wreford sees the win as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on finding a cure for brain cancer. Most recently, Catherine played the role of Princess Diana in Royal MTC's Casey and Diana.

Karl Stobbe has performed in North America’s most prominent concert halls, including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Boston’s Jordan Hall, and has shared the stage with some of the most important and eclectic violinists of our day, from James Ehnes to Mark O’Connor. Whether an orchestra director, concertmaster, soloist, or chamber musician, he is an audience favourite in all settings. His recording of Ysaÿe’s Solo Violin Sonatas was nominated for a JUNO Award, and received worldwide attention, including London’s Sunday Times who called Karl “a master soloist, recalling the golden age of violin playing... producing a breathtaking range of tone colours.” Pursuing his life-long love of the music for solo violin, Karl has recently created an online concert series featuring all the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by J.S. Bach.

Whether cooperating with a singer or a sine wave, Madeline Hildebrand’s collaborative virtuosity leads much of her work. She has appeared in concert with Philip Glass (Winnipeg New Music Festival), the Kronos Quartet (Mass MoCA), with Yarn/Wire (DiMenna Center, New York), and as a soloist for Music Toronto’s COSE series.

Madeline has performed with all of Winnipeg's major musical arts groups, and is a vigorous advocate for bringing classical music to rural communities as evidenced by her solo tours with Home Routes and Living Room Live. This season, she joins oboist Caitlin Broms-Jacobs in concerts featuring the dramatic and enchanting melodies of Eastern Europe (see Fierbois), and the duo has recently launched their CD titled Sing to Me Again. Fierbois will tour Western Canada with Prairie Debut in the 25/26 season.