Manitoba\u2019s choral music community is mourning the loss of one of the province\u2019s greatest conductors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
George Wiebe, the longtime director of the Faith and Life Male Chorus and the choirs of Canadian Mennonite Bible College (a predecessor college of Canadian Mennonite University) passed away on June 5 at the age of 98.\u00a0Together with his wife\u00a0Esther\u00a0(who passed away in 2023), Wiebe laid down a blueprint for community music-making that still resonates in Winnipeg and across the province to this day.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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A family of music\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alongside their commitments to creating music in the community, George and Esther were also dedicated to ensuring that music rang through their house with their children. Their son Bob\u00a0Wiebe\u00a0has\u00a0spent many years as\u00a0a violinist with the Mennonite Community Orchestra,\u00a0and his brother Peter played the cello in\u00a0the\u00a0Windsor Symphony Orchestra.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a family string quartet,\u201d Peter recalls, \u201cand at some point, Dad started bringing me along to play along with some of the choir pieces and come along to performances and I\u00a0loved doing\u00a0that and being kind of the tag-along little brat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a slightly different story for Bob.\u00a0\u201cI was a little reluctant about this and I didn\u2019t buy in, you might say,\u201d he says, \u201cbut now, I find myself doing what my mom and dad did, leading music regularly at the church.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Both Bob and Peter speak about their father\u2019s work ethic when it\u00a0came\u00a0to the music that he conducted and shared over the course of his life. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like a\u00a0technician,\u201d Bob says of his dad\u2019s approach to music. \u201cIt was like a passionate person doing this so that the music could glorify God. That was his\u00a0ultimate goal\u00a0all the time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That passion was just easily passed along to his children as it was to his choir. \u201cDad would\u00a0sometimes\u00a0come into the room while I was practicing cello and he would be encouraging. Sometimes, he would say,\u00a0\u2018Maybe you could do a little bit more with the sound.\u2019\u00a0It\u00a0sort\u00a0of encouraged me to listen for\u00a0more\u00a0and\u00a0it’s\u00a0like he was always listening as\u00a0as\u00a0a choral director, listening for the sound of the choir and what kind of sounds are possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Contributing beyond the stage\u00a0<\/p>\n
Along with leading memorable performances of works like Brahms\u2019 German Requiem and tours to South America and Ukraine with his ensembles, George Wiebe is also being remembered for his other contributions to countless lives. This included serving on communities for Mennonite hymnals in English and German as well as providing encouragement and guidance to the next generation of\u00a0choir and church music leaders.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing Dad would do is that he would see potential in people,\u201d says Peter. \u201cHe was not just thinking of his own fame or something, but he would see possibilities in other people\u00a0–\u00a0\u00a0\u2018You would make a good organist. You would make a good composer. You\u00a0should study voice.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lesson in leadership that comes first to mind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The people that George served and inspired will be out in full force at his funeral, which will include a choir filled with family and alumni that sang under his baton at CMBC \u2013 a fitting tribute for a man who always strove to create meaningful gatherings in music.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHis legacy I think is the passion that he had for this kind of music-making, and he passed it on to individuals who continue to pass it on.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0as simple\u00a0as\u00a0that,\u201d says Bob.\u00a0<\/p>\n