“Musical adventure” this season

SOUTH OKANAGAN CONCERT SOCIETY  2016-2017 SEASON

Imagine yourself the evening of November 11th arriving with friends to the bright lights of the Venables Theatre and hunkering down to the virtuosity, musicality, elegance, sensuality and humour of Quartango.    Four highly accomplished musicians and two tango dancers evoke deep emotions as they share their passion for this Argentinian musical tradition.

Then imagine an evening of this calibre available at only $16.15 until November 10th.   The South Okanagan Concert Society, very close to full capacity audiences, has created this “on-line incentive” as we join the modern age and use the new technology of online ticketing in our own new theatre.   You can now be confident that when you arrive with your ticket you will have an assigned seat and no anxiety at the door.   Tickets will also be available at the theatre box office on Mondays from 11 am to 3 pm and at the door.   If you need assistance during the transition from our old flex pass system call Janet at 495 6487 or Bob at 498 8889.  Ticket prices after November 10th are $22.50 with those under age 17 free.

The season this year brings lots of musical adventure.  The November 11th performance will undoubtedly be a sell out so don’t sit on your hands.   Get your tickets and hear Quartango shed new light on the music of the tango with its international take on an Argentinean musical tradition.

Then on December 2nd come to hear Russian-Canadian pianist, Sergei Saratovsky, show off his skills on our new grand piano.   Sergei has been recognized with awards from Russian President Putin and Governor General Michaelle Jean.   Coming to Canada in 2002 he now has a doctorate in Piano Performance from UBC.   His younger brother, Nikolai, is coming from Moscow to join him in a dynamic concert of well known one piano four hand repertoire.

When we enter the new year, Remi Bolduc, one of Canada’s best jazz saxaphonists, will be on stage.  Mark January 27th when his ensemble will captivate our audience with stunning virtuosity in “A Tribute to Dave Brubeck”.   Acclaimed from New York to Paris via Geneva, Tokyo and Beijing, this performance will lift any winter blues sky high!

For over fifteen years, critics have praised the ‘artistry, poetry and impeccable technique’ of Duo Concertante.  Partners in life and in music, Nancy Dahn and Timothy Steeves are Canada’s premiere violin and piano duo.  They will come to us February 24, 2017 to close yet another satisfying South Okanagan Concert Society season of music.

Tickets for all concerts are on sale now.  Don’t wait to secure yours and get dates on your calendars.   All concerts are at the beautiful Frank Venables Theatre in Oliver and start at 7:30 pm.   Those requiring bus transportation from Osoyoos can call Maureen at 250 495 7978 to make arrangements.socs-2016-7

Get your tickets for great music

by Marion Boyd

Quartango (1)November 11th classically trained musicians come together to explore their passion for tango on piano, violin, double bass and bandoneon.   Accompanied by two tango dancers, Quartango, (pictured above) has charmed audiences around the world. 7:30 p.m. If you act now, tickets to this first  concert may be purchased for only $16.25  until November 10. That’s a savings of $6.25 off the regular price of $22.50

https://secure1.tixhub.com/venablestheatre/online/index.asp

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December 2nd, Russian concert pianist Sergei Saratovsky has also won acclaim on the world stage.   He became a resident of Canada in 2002 and completed his doctoral studies here.  Born into a family of musicians, his awards would fill pages including a recent Best Canadian Artist award at the Montreal International Musical Competition!   Our new grand piano will get a work out with Saratovsky!

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January 27th, 2017, the Remi Bolduc Jazz Ensemble will perform a tribute to Dave Brubeck.  Bolduc is one of Canada’s best jazz saxophonist.  Breathtaking precision, magnetic stage presence and dazzling virtuosity, energy and spontaneity are his trademarks.  He will tour with guest pianist Francois Bourassa.

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February 24, 2017, Duo Concertante features Nancy Dahn on violin and Timothy Steeves on piano.   Reviews refer to their “artistry, poetry and impeccable technique” and the excitement of “grace and fire… fury and repose”.   From Newfoundland, they are doing a cross Canada tour to follow a tour in Europe.

Now is the time to secure your tickets for the coming season.

Tickets for all Concert Series shows are now on sale. Regular prices are $22.50 per event ($90 for the entire season). But if you act now, tickets to the first event, Quartango, may be purchased for only $16.25  until November 10. That reduces the season price to only $83.75 for four great evenings of entertainment.

All Seats Reserved 
Available at Frank Venables box office Mondays 11-3
Buy tickets online for best seat availability:

https://secure1.tixhub.com/venablestheatre/online/index.asp

Penticton Concert Band entertains

MITP 04-07-2013 PCB1The Penticton Concert Band opened the arts council’s Music in the Park series with some exciting rhythms, sweet melodies, and stirring harmonies on Thursday July 4 The warm sunny evening at the Oliver Community Stage (Bandshell) attracted a large crowd. The audience had generous applause for the band conducted by Gerald Nadeau.

The first set opened with the Spanish influenced “Ole!”, and continued with some lovely ballads performed by Madison Johnson, including the chestnut, Love’s Old Sweet Song.  Her warm voice was perfectly suited to the slow lyrical melody, evoking the singing style of 1930s radio. She later lent her voice to two medleys from  Moulin Rouge and West Side Story.

MITP 04-07-2013

Under Nadeau’s baton, the band has been improving by leaps and bounds over the years, with a tight, crisp delivery. Nowhere was this more evident than in the challenging Fuego de Alma, with each section solo underscored by syncopated flamenco hand-clapping from other band members. Their rousing Pirates of the Caribbean was another highlight, earning cheers from the audience. Perhaps the  best evidence of audience appreciation was the energetic dancing and leaping of a few young children. One little boy parried and thrust his way through the Pirates score, emulating Captain Jack Sparrow.

MITP 04-07-2013 Mapplebeck

Music in the Park continues every Thursday in July at the cozier venue of the Riverside Patio at the Oliver Visitor Centre (the historic CPR Station). Thursday July 11 is William Leggott on classical guitar. Thursday July 18 brings The Chaca Laca Love Machine with their funk, reggae, and Latin rhythms. This concert is our special Feed the Valley concert, sponsored by Valley First Credit Union. Bring a food bank donation!  Thursday July 25 is Okanagan Divas CindiyDoucette and Mikie Spillett sharing the stage with a mix of country, jazz, pop, and light rock. Every concert runs 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Admission by donation, with a suggested minimum of $3. Every concert has refreshments by donation (bottled water and baked goods) courtesy of Oliver Lioness Club in support of the Chloe Krueger fundraiser.

Scroll down this page to see the August lineup for Music in the Park, plus info about the Michael Burgess concert.

Don`t forget to stop by the Oliver Farmer`s Market in Lions Park on your way to the concert! Great local produce, preserves, and crafts.

Thursdays: 4:00pm-7:00pm
Open from June 27 to Sept 5, Thursdays: 8am-11am, 4pm-7pm.

Photos:

1. Nadeau conducts the Penticton Concert Band while two young audience members move to the music.

2. Pirates of the Caribbean score inspires children to dance

3. Brian Mapplebeck of Oliver performs with the band.

Photo credit: Penelope Johnson

Concert season opens with lyric soprano

Submitted by Marion Boyd, SOCS

Last year at this time the South Okanagan Concert Society was reassuring citizens they could look forward to world class concerts despite the massive fire that consumed the local high school and auditorium. Switching to the temporary venue of the Oliver Alliance Church, a concert series was specifically designed to take advantage of the acoustics in a smaller, more intimate setting. It was a huge success.

This year, while construction of the new auditorium is underway, the concert society has again shaped a series to bring delight to a community rising above its grievous loss. Flex pass tickets are on sale now at Beyond Bliss (Oliver) and at Imperial Office Pro (Osoyoos). The four admission pass costs only $60. The four admissions are entirely flexible and can be used together or in any combination. Single admission is $20. Young people 17 and under are welcome to attend the concerts free. All the concerts will begin at the new start time of 7:30 pm.

Here’s what we have in store for you! On Friday, November 2 the stunning soprano, Tracy Fehr (pictured above), will offer a programme to showcase her classically trained lyric voice. Expect operatic arias, German lieder, arrangements of African-American spirituals and musical theatre hits. Dennis Nordlund will provide the piano accompaniment.

Friday, November 30th a complete change of pace will occur when the 2011 Canadian Grand Master Fiddle champion, Daniel Gervais, performs. He has been playing violin since age 5 and moves comfortably from fiddle styles to classical violin. No wonder one of his CDs has the title “Endless Possibilities”.

 

 

Some familiar faces appear for the Friday, February 8th concert, Duo Rendezvous. Jasper Wood, violinist, has enthralled the audience before and when he joins with the charismatic Daniel Bolshoy on classical guitar the outcome will undoubtedly be musical magic. Last year Daniel’s virtuosity and his charming ability to communicate with the audience created a coterie of new local fans.

 

 

 

The series will conclude on Thursday, March 7th , when the Concert Society takes a firm step out onto a limb. This concert is like no other. Woody Holler and his Orchestra are purveyors of western swing. They love to explore the crossover between jazz and western and produce “gypsy jazz from the saddle”. Raised on cowboy songs and later trained in classical voice and opera, Woody’s voice plus violin, guitar and bass create arrangements rich with virtuosity and style.

This is a series guaranteed to chase away any winter blues with music, music, music!

Concert Society “hollers” some good news

It’s yodelling. It’s swing. It’s country. It’s jazz.  It’s a whole lot of fun, is what it is!

The South Okanagan Concert Society is  please to announce what president Jan Marcotte calls “an exciting experiment”. After a little trouble booking their fourth concert  of the 2012 – 12 concert season, the society has hired a terrifc ensemble: Woody  Holler and His Orchestra.

Imagine Django Reinhart (1930s gypsy jazz guitarist) with a cowboy twang. The result is a lively, toe-tapping good time that will make you smile.   Check out a musical sampling at their website here:  www.woodyholler.ca

Fron his website: “Woody Holler grew up hearing the songs of the cowboy. Although he was later trained in opera, a sense of belonging and nostalgia held him close to the early Western genre. Influenced by the crooning styles of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers as well as the rustic blue yodeling of Jimmy Rodgers and danceable swing of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, he developed his lyric yodel on the wide-open spaces of the Canadian Prairie.

“Woody Holler’s orchestra consists of Winnipeg’s finest folk/jazz musicians creating a western swing style that Woody defines as “jazz from the saddle”. Richard Moody on violin, Greg Lowe on guitar and Daniel Koulack on double bass add clever arrangements that are rich with virtuosity and style. The repertoire is eclectic, fun and fascinating, featuring finger-snapping swing beats, honey-slowed love croons, and show stopping “extreme” yodeling. Woody Holler was nominated for the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards.”

The full conert lineup for the 2012-13 season is

November 2, 2012: Tracy Fehr, lyric soprano
November 30, 2012: Daniel Gervais, Canadian Fiddle Champion
February 8, 2013: Duo Rendezvous, violin & guitar
THURSDAY, March 7, 2013  ~ Woody Holler and His Orchestra
$60 regular 4-flex pass  
$20 single ticket
at Beyond Bliss, Oliver   and  Imperial Office Pro, Osoyoos

Concert Society "hollers" some good news

It’s yodelling. It’s swing. It’s country. It’s jazz.  It’s a whole lot of fun, is what it is!

The South Okanagan Concert Society is  please to announce what president Jan Marcotte calls “an exciting experiment”. After a little trouble booking their fourth concert  of the 2012 – 12 concert season, the society has hired a terrifc ensemble: Woody  Holler and His Orchestra.

Imagine Django Reinhart (1930s gypsy jazz guitarist) with a cowboy twang. The result is a lively, toe-tapping good time that will make you smile.   Check out a musical sampling at their website here:  www.woodyholler.ca

Fron his website: “Woody Holler grew up hearing the songs of the cowboy. Although he was later trained in opera, a sense of belonging and nostalgia held him close to the early Western genre. Influenced by the crooning styles of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers as well as the rustic blue yodeling of Jimmy Rodgers and danceable swing of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, he developed his lyric yodel on the wide-open spaces of the Canadian Prairie.

“Woody Holler’s orchestra consists of Winnipeg’s finest folk/jazz musicians creating a western swing style that Woody defines as “jazz from the saddle”. Richard Moody on violin, Greg Lowe on guitar and Daniel Koulack on double bass add clever arrangements that are rich with virtuosity and style. The repertoire is eclectic, fun and fascinating, featuring finger-snapping swing beats, honey-slowed love croons, and show stopping “extreme” yodeling. Woody Holler was nominated for the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards.”

The full conert lineup for the 2012-13 season is

November 2, 2012: Tracy Fehr, lyric soprano
November 30, 2012: Daniel Gervais, Canadian Fiddle Champion
February 8, 2013: Duo Rendezvous, violin & guitar
THURSDAY, March 7, 2013  ~ Woody Holler and His Orchestra
$60 regular 4-flex pass  
$20 single ticket
at Beyond Bliss, Oliver   and  Imperial Office Pro, Osoyoos

Concert Season ready? Yes Yes Yes!

submitted by Marion Boyd, South Okanagan Concert Society

When the recent massive fire consumed the Oliver Venables Auditorium, citizens felt bereft. So much was destroyed and many wondered if the South Okanagan Concert Society would be able to bring world class concerts to the community this year. The answer to that question is YES! YES! YES!

The Concert Society knew that the renovations started at the auditorium before the fire would not be completed for this season. There was time to plan and to arrange for a temporary new venue at the Oliver Alliance Church. A concert series was designed specifically to take advantage of the acoustics in a smaller, more intimate setting . As the series took shape we knew we had a winner to bring delight to a community suffering a grievous loss.

Flex pass tickets are on sale now at Beyond Bliss in Oliver and at Imperial Office Pro in Osoyoos. A four admission pass costs only $60. The four admissions are entirely flexible and can be used together or in combination. Single admission is $20. Young people 17 and under are welcome to attend the concerts free. All the concerts will begin at the new start time of 7:30 pm.

So this is what we have in store for you! On Friday, October 28th, Alexander Sevastian, who hails from Belarus and became a Canadian citizen in 2005, will make you believe his accordion is a whole orchestra in one instrument. His dexterity is worthy of a concert pianist. It is hardly a surprise that he has captured first prize three times at the International Accordion Competition.

On Friday, November 25, 2011, the Kallisto Trio of Fabiana Katz, Catherine Laub and Karen Mang will perform a cappella with flawlessly tuned voices blending into one. They are known for classical mastery, Pop personality and Latin spice. Kallisto draws inspiration from every era of music history. The trio brings music from the Renaissance, Baroque and Romantic periods to life and then shifts effortlessly to jazz standards, pop hits, world music and gospel.

Solo guitarist, Daniel Bolshoy, will be on stage Friday, January 27, 2012. He has been a mega hit with his charismatic stage presence, a charming ability to communicate with the audience, and the ability to coax utter magic from his guitar.

The critics say this young man “immerses himself in his music, physically projecting the depth of its emotion while his virtuosity flows as if it were an instinctive force.”

He has recently been appointed to head the guitar department at the newly created Vancouver Symphony School of Music.

The series will conclude on Friday, February 24, 2012 with a performance by the Penderecki String Quartet. In the second decade of an extrordinary career, this celebrated chamber ensemble’s performing schedule takes them annually to the great concert stages of North and South America, Europe and the Far East. Making up this prestigious quartet are Jeremy Bell, violin, Jerzy Kaplanek, violin, Christine Vlajk, viola and Paul Pulford, cello.

This is a series with the transformational power to turn the grief of a community into joy through music.

Jazz winds up the summer

The Oliver Community Arts Council presents

Music in the Park

Thursdays 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Oliver Visitor Centre Riverside Patio
Suggested minimum donation: $3
Dessert Vendor on site ~ Buy a tasty treat!

Thursday August 25:

Jazz Out West

light jazz & favourite standards

This is a group never-to-be-missed! Iris’ smooth jazz stylings will relax you, and the gents are oh-so-cool! Jazz Out West is a truly professional group, having earned their band touring stripes on many a cruise ship.  Let their music take you away on a mental cruise of your own. Here’s hoping they’ll have some CDs for sale…. 

Thank you to Music in the Park sponsor Valley First Credit Union!

 

Donations to their Feed the Valley program are welcome. Drop off any canned goods at Valley First. Proceeds go to the LOCAL food bank.

 

Ingrid Inspires

The Oliver Community Arts Council presents
Music in the Park
Celtic Harp with Ingrid Schellenberg
Celtic, classical, and popular pieces
Thursday August 11
6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Oliver Visitors Centre “Riverside Patio”
(Rain venue: Quail’s Nest Arts Centre,
34274 – 95th St)
 
Suggested minimum donation $3
Bring a blanket or lawnchair.
Picnickers welcome. Dessert vendor on site.
 
The OCAC gratefully acknowledges the support of
Valley First Credit Union
for our summer concert series.
Non-perishable food donations to their Feed the Valley program are welcome or drop off at your local branch.

We also acknowledge the support of the BC Arts Council, the Province of BC, the Town of Oliver, the RDOS, and Oliver Parks and Recreation for all our programming.

Photo Credit: Heather Fink  (file photo 2010)