Saturday, October 29, 2016

A busy week in the arts coming up

As October prepares to transition into November, there are plenty of reasons to stay inside and enjoy some great music, theatre and dance in the coming week, both here in Niagara and beyond.  So let's take a look at a few of the highlights.

This weekend the Elora Festival Singers kick off their winter season at their home base, St. John's Church in Elora on Sunday afternoon.  The concert, entitled Valiant Hearts, pays tribute to the valour of Canadians here in Canada and elsewhere in the world.  With Remembrance Day coming up soon, this is a perfect way to remember and honour those who have served so well over the years.

I was at St. John's Church a couple of weeks ago and it is still one of the nicest, most welcoming churches you'll find anywhere.  For tickets, call the Elora Festival Singers box office at 519-846-0331 or toll free, 1-888-747-7550.

The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts in downtown St. Catharines has a couple of musical events coming up this week you will want to attend.  The first is the Tuesday Music@Noon recital in the Cairns Recital Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.  These recitals by faculty and students at the school of fine arts are always free and from what I can see, very well attended.

This Tuesday November 1st the recital will feature piano, vocal and instrumental students and it begins promptly at noon.

On Friday evening, the Encore! Professional Concert Series gets underway with the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts welcoming the Walker String Quartet to Partridge Hall at the PAC.  The Quartet, made up of Vera Alekseeva, Anna Hughes, Gordon Cleland and Andree Simard, are joined for this concert by Zoltan Kalman, the Department of Music's clarinet instructor at Brock.

The concert begins at 7:30 Friday evening and will feature music by Brahms, Mozart and Haydn.  For tickets, call the PAC box office at 905-688-0722.

The Hot Ticket series at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre has a couple of performances lined up this week as well.  Proartedanza, founded by former National Ballet of Canada dancer and choreographer Roberto Campanella will present a programme featuring two works, Diversion and Fearful Symmetries.

Diversion features choreography by Robert Glumbek and is described as an explosive, high-energy work; Fearful Symmetries, choreographed by Campanella himself, is actually a World Premiere.  It explores the choreographer's experience as an immigrant to Canada in juxtaposition with the current generation of young artists influenced by urban aesthetics and pop culture.

Proartdanza performs Wednesday night at 7:30 in Partridge Hall.

The following night the same hall will play host to the first of the season's Classic Albums Live concerts, this time paying tribute to The Band - The Last Waltz.  The film documented The Band's seminal farewell concert, of course, which many in the area still remember fondly.

The concert begins at 7:30 on November 3rd at Partridge Hall, and tickets to these and all the Hot Ticket concerts are available by calling the PAC box office at 905-688-0722.

And next weekend choral music is front and centre both here and in Guelph.  Here, Chorus Niagara kicks off their new season at Partridge Hall at the PAC with a performance of the magnificent Mendelssohn oratorio Elijah, with Robert Cooper conducting.

Chorus Niagara is the Niagara Region's premiere symphonic chorus, performing classic choral masterpieces, new commissions, modern and even seldom-heard works.

The season opener for Chorus Niagara is next Saturday, November 5th at 7:30 pm.  Tickets are available by calling the PAC box office at 905-688-0722.

And the Guelph Chamber Choir also performs next Saturday night at the River Run Centre in downtown Guelph, with a performance of the popular African Sanctus by David Fanshawe.  The work brings cultures together through a fusion of recorded African music, percussion, live choir and rock band.  Also on the programme will be Gary Diggins' Musical Postcards of Africa with soprano Sheila Dietrich.

Tickets to the performance are available by calling the River Run box office at 519-763-3000.

Have a great week!

October 29th, 2016.

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