Steinbach audience feels a whole lot of love with an intimate concert Friday night

With Valentine’s Day approaching, it was rather fitting to have an intimate concert Friday night in Steinbach, part of the Studio Concert Series at the Steinbach Arts Council. 

It was called “To Love and To Be Loved” with soprano Karen Santos, joined by Megan Dufrat on piano, filling the Steinbach Credit Union Studio with so much emotion. 

Executive Director David Klassen says Karen Santos is incredibly talented, and she offers more than her voice. 

“She's also a very gifted visual artist,” he explains. “She has woven together a recital that tells a story of love in all of its forms.” 

Santos painted a portrait of all of these women who are the subject of all of these songs and all of this repertoire, Klassen adds, and she's done some sculpture as well. 

“So, she sort of semi-staged the whole thing. It's just such a unique opportunity to see how two art forms collide music and visual art and through story.” 

Klassen says the Studio Concert Series offers something special for a smaller audience and that gives people a completely unique experience. 

“What our goal is with the studio series, is to create an experience of music that breaks those barriers, those walls and those boundaries,” he says. “Sometimes classical musicians are seen as untouchable, or you can't really relate to them. But not in our studio. They talk with the audience, they teach the audience, they engage. And so, it really becomes a common experience between both the artists and the audience.” 

The Studio Concert Series began last fall, thanks to a grant that allowed the Steinbach Arts Council to put together this brand-new series of shows. 

“It began in November actually, with the One Man Play right in our Steinbach Credit Union Studio, that is where we’ve hosted these concerts, they're meant for small audiences presenting big talent.” 

More big talent is expected later this month when violinist Elation Pauls is joined by Naomi Woo, recognized as a rising star on the Canadian classical music scene. That show takes place on Sunday, February 26th. 

And then Jayme Giesbrecht will hit the stage on March 24th, always ready to stir the soul of each member in the audience. Her repertoire has broadened from traditional gospel spirituals and hymns to soul classics from Aretha Franklin, Etta James, and Tina Turner, and jazz standards which she performs with her accompanist Jonathan Alexiuk.

-With files from Michelle Sawatzky.