FNL “Blow-out” to end wine festival

Medici’s Friday Night Live Wine Festival Blow-Out II

by David Badger

Friday Night Live ‘Wine Festival Madness’ continues. If you were here last time around then you were part of, arguably, our best FNL ever. The level of talent, the sheer number of great musicians, the spontaneity of artists jumping into performances that took off into the firmament, the amazing diversity of the artists….yada yada. You can’t predict it but, once in it you don’t want it to stop.
Accolades to some of our great performers of the night; Tom, Larry, Marcel, Bettyanne and Gidd, Seradaye and Trevor, Pasquale and her her amazing band of musical friends, Jeff, Mountainview Drive, James, our newest harmonicat Dean, Evelyn and everyone I missed when I had to make a beer run.

Come kick the doors down with your own vibe this Friday coming. The beer is cold and the music IS of course always sooooo HOT! Marcel Morneau and our wonderfully talented artists will fill the night. We crank up the music shortly after 7:00. The music is huge…Tons of talent…all we need is you!

We are licensed. We have beer, wine, coffees with a kick and our usual great gelato and snacks, sweet treats and of course…our great host Marcel. Medici’s this Friday Oct 14th at 7:00 PM. 522 Fairview Road. 250-498-2228.medicis-22

Come Swing!

Another great night of music at Medici’s in Oliver!

On Saturday October 6th, one of the hottest Okanagan Swing bands, Jazz Out West plays. David Esler will come up from Vancouver to join them with his virtuoso trumpet playing.Come listen, come sing, COME SWING.Tickets $20 at Medici’s and Beyond Bliss in Oliver and at Dolce’s in Osoyoos

Sage Valley Voices celebrate the 70s

by Heather Fink

The Sage Valley Voices is a 45 to 50-member adult choir based at the United Church in Oliver.  Alice DeRoche has fearlessly, and with much patience and good humor, led the Voices for the past eleven years, selecting the music, writing scripts, sewing costumes, and she has even had a hand in designing sets for the choir’s performances.  A busy lady indeed!

The Sage Valley Voices will present their 2012 spring concerts, “GOLDEN DECADE OF THE 70s“, featuring a variety of cool music from the 1970’s – think ABBA, McCartney, Cash, Denver, Broadway show tunes and more! – on Saturday May 5 at 7:00 pm and Sunday May 6 at 2:30 pm at the Oliver United Church.  Admission is $10 at the door and includes sweet treats following the concerts.

The choir is a non-profit organization and proceeds from the concerts support local community outreach programs such as the church’s soup kitchen and the Oliver Food Bank.  Donations of non-perishable food for the food bank are always welcome at the concerts.

The choir usually performs four concerts per year, two in December and two in April or May, and welcomes new members – no audition required.  Rehearsals are on Monday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Oliver United Church. If you or anyone you know is interested in becoming a part of this fun-loving show choir, or for more information, please contact Lois Bzdel at 250-497-7966, or Alice DeRoche at 250-492-4159.

Sage Valley Voices sing the 70s

The Sage Valley Voices are hard at work practicing for their upcoming concert “The Golden Decade of the Seventies”. This concert has something for everyone – a little country, theatre songs, movie music, and those great songs you heard on the radio – so don’t miss it !

Saturday May 5 
7:00 p.m.
Sunday May 6 
2:30 p.m.
$10 at the door
Oliver United Church
Admission includes refreshments
Donations to the Oliver Food Bank welcome!

Loud singing encouraged in Oliver Library

There will be no “shhhing” in the Oliver Library on Tuesday December 20. Instead, there will be the sound of joyful music. In fact, you might even see the librarians singing along to the harmonies of piano and saxophone. 

Join the Friends of the Library this Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon for a Christmas twist on their usual third-Tuesday coffee morning. Music, singing, and refreshments.  Carol sheets provided (see? there will be some reading at the library!)

Note: This is a great time to pick up some books to see you through the Christmas holidays when the library will be closed. Happy reading – and singing!

Down Home Christmas with Sage Valley Voices

A Down Home Christmas to get you in the spirit! The Sage Valley Voices are known locally for their lively programmes, zany humour, colourful costumes, and … surprises! Their sense of fun and love of singing comes across in every performance. A true “community choir” that knows what its audience likes, and delivers.

You can also “sample” the choir in performance at Oliver’s downtown LightUp celebration on the evening of Friday December 2 and at the Community Christmas Concert on December 4 at 2:30 p.m. on the  Oliver Alliance Church stage.  But you’ll want  to get the full show “Down Home” on December 10 & 11 at Oliver United Church (see poster for details). 

The choir is hunting for a new director to carry on the tradition. Are you interested? Find out more by contacting the arts council and we’ll pass your inquiry along olivercac @ gmail.com  Don’t let “A Down Home Christmas” be their last concert!  These folks are just having way to much fun to stop!

Community Christmas Concert December 4

Remember years ago the afternoon Christmas concerts with several Oliver groups participating? The singalong? The kids? The goodies? Well, it’s ho-ho-here again!

The Oliver Community Arts Council is reviving this tradition and presenting a programme full of local entertainment. Fun for the whole family!  The concert is set for Sunday December 4 at 2:30 p.m. using the venue at the Oliver Alliance Church. Admission is FREE but donations to the arts council and Oliver Food Bank are welcome.  

The programme has something for everyone: the Swingin’ Bronze Handbell Ringers, Lori Martine with a  flute instrumental, Bill Phillips with a recitation, the Desert Bronze Handbell Ringers, Bob Park with a guitar instrumental, the Oliver Handbell Ringers, a “teaser” sampling from the Sage Valley Voices (who have a fabulous concert planned the next weekend!),  a vocal/piano duet by Hal H. Hopson and Dorothy Moore, dancing by Delaney Wise, the Oliver Elementary School Chorus, South Okanagan Secondary School Band, the Advent Alliance ensemble, the South Okanagan Adventist Christian School Choir, and the Desert Air Men’s Chorus. What a lineup! 

The concert will promote other seasonal events happening locally. Check out some of the publicity in the foyer. Fill your calendar with joyous celebrations!

The concert concludes with goodie bags for the kids. Thank you to the Oliver Ambassadors, Sheila Lange, Buy-Low Foods, and Super Valu for their support!

Kallisto – Voices to make you float on air

by Marion Boyd, South Okanagan Concert Society

Three beautiful women have joined their voices and spirits to create Kallisto – an incomparable a cappella trio experience on stage Friday, November 25th in Oliver.

Presented by the South Okanagan Concert Society, the performance will be at the new time of 7:30 pm. As a result of the fire which destroyed the Venables Auditorium, the temporary venue for this concert season is the Oliver Alliance Church, 36853 99th Street, just off Highway 97 at the northern ‘Welcome to Oliver’ sign.

Kallisto draws inspiration and brings music to life from the Renaissance, Baroque and Romantic periods and then shifts effortlessly to jazz standards, pop hits, world music and gospel. The varied programme November 25th will include a few musical Christmas treats as well.

Fabiana Katz, Karen Mang and Catherine Laub let their personalities play off each other on stage. They captivate audiences with their flawlessly tuned voices and their passion for creativity and showmanship. Their trio, named after a lovely girl in a Greek myth, leaves room to explore through words and music a world of gods and goddesses, love and pathos, all served with a dollup of humour.

Argentian-Canadian mezzo-soprano, Fabiana, has a Masters degree in Choral Conducting and sings with the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Her expertise is in Baroque music as well as Spanish and Latin American music. Catherine, the lead soprano, has a Masters degree in Voice Performance and was on stage in New York before moving to Vancouver in 2006. She sings with the Vancouver Chamber Choir and is a published composer, author, voice teacher and yoga teacher. Karen Mang delights in theatre, entertaining and excellent musicianship. A soprano, she is the assistant conductor of the Vancouver Children’s Choir and is active as a soloist in the Vancouver area.

Tickets are on sale at Beyond Bliss Esthetics in Oliver, Imperial Office Pro in Osoyoos and at the door. The best buy is a flexible pass for four admissions for only $60. The admissions can be used separately or in combination. Single admission is $20 and young people age 17 and under are welcome to attend concerts free.

If you are feeling tired by the time Friday rolls around and wondering if you can gather the energy to appear at the concert, think of our SOCS President, Janet Marcotte. She often feels exhausted at the end of a demanding week of teaching. She also notes that by the end of a concert of fine music, she is rejuvenated and floating on air. Try it. It just might work for you too!!

Choir goes "Down Memory Lane" April 16 &17

It’s been ten years already, since Alice Deroche started waving her arms (and sometimes stamping her feet ) in front of a motley crew of local yokels who grew into their name: The Sage Valley Voices! Her dream of a thriving community choir singing and smiling their way through the seasons, sometimes with a bit of musical theatre thrown in, making happy and pleasing sounds, continues to be fulfilled as evidenced by the growth of our audiences. The choir’s performances at the Oliver United Church are most often sold out, and the choir has grown too, numbering almost 50 now, doubling in size since the beginning and challenging Alice to keep us all in line.

We’ll be singing in style for the tenth spring in a row. Come help us celebrate Alice for her years of dedication creating these programs and offering them to you. Come join our party as we dream of yesteryear, presenting many of the favourites we’ve performed in the past. (Photo at left is from the 2010 concert “Sixties with a Twist”) We’ve prepared love songs, sad songs, a bit of country, certainly spiritual and gospel. Rumours of guest appearances the likes of Elvis, Marilyn, Manhattan Transfer, and perhaps even “Mama”, shouldn’t be exaggerated – but guaranteed each performance will be full of surprises. Of course there’ll be swinging and swooning, boogying and jiving as we present “Those Fabulous Fifties”. Count on some foot stomping (or at least tapping) of your own during “Shades of Country” and just see if you can sit still during “The Sixties With a Twist.”

Alice has led the choir through many additions and changes. We’re fortunate this year to get a sampling of memorable moments from the last ten years. Is fashion your thing? Even just to laugh at, or to remember that you used to be able to fit into some of them? Do you like coffee and goodies afterwards? Well, it’s a party, so you can be sure something will be arranged! Do you enjoy silent auctions? You’re bound to find something you’d like to bid on, so break open that piggy bank and bring your loonie and toonie collection. Got a special anniversary coming up? We do! Let’s get together and celebrate! Bring your honey, your Mom or your favourite aunt, bring the kids and grandkids or a special neighbour and share with them our gift of song.

See you

Down Memory Lane
 Sat. April 16
7:00 pm 
Sun. April 17 
2:30 pm
Oliver United Church
Tickets: $10.00 available at the door
Price includes coffee and cake, fashion show
Come up to 45 minutes early to place bids on the silent auction. Bring your loonies and twoonies and chequebook to take advantage of  these great items!  

Choir goes “Down Memory Lane” April 16 &17

It’s been ten years already, since Alice Deroche started waving her arms (and sometimes stamping her feet ) in front of a motley crew of local yokels who grew into their name: The Sage Valley Voices! Her dream of a thriving community choir singing and smiling their way through the seasons, sometimes with a bit of musical theatre thrown in, making happy and pleasing sounds, continues to be fulfilled as evidenced by the growth of our audiences. The choir’s performances at the Oliver United Church are most often sold out, and the choir has grown too, numbering almost 50 now, doubling in size since the beginning and challenging Alice to keep us all in line.

We’ll be singing in style for the tenth spring in a row. Come help us celebrate Alice for her years of dedication creating these programs and offering them to you. Come join our party as we dream of yesteryear, presenting many of the favourites we’ve performed in the past. (Photo at left is from the 2010 concert “Sixties with a Twist”) We’ve prepared love songs, sad songs, a bit of country, certainly spiritual and gospel. Rumours of guest appearances the likes of Elvis, Marilyn, Manhattan Transfer, and perhaps even “Mama”, shouldn’t be exaggerated – but guaranteed each performance will be full of surprises. Of course there’ll be swinging and swooning, boogying and jiving as we present “Those Fabulous Fifties”. Count on some foot stomping (or at least tapping) of your own during “Shades of Country” and just see if you can sit still during “The Sixties With a Twist.”

Alice has led the choir through many additions and changes. We’re fortunate this year to get a sampling of memorable moments from the last ten years. Is fashion your thing? Even just to laugh at, or to remember that you used to be able to fit into some of them? Do you like coffee and goodies afterwards? Well, it’s a party, so you can be sure something will be arranged! Do you enjoy silent auctions? You’re bound to find something you’d like to bid on, so break open that piggy bank and bring your loonie and toonie collection. Got a special anniversary coming up? We do! Let’s get together and celebrate! Bring your honey, your Mom or your favourite aunt, bring the kids and grandkids or a special neighbour and share with them our gift of song.

See you

Down Memory Lane
 Sat. April 16
7:00 pm 
Sun. April 17 
2:30 pm
Oliver United Church
Tickets: $10.00 available at the door
Price includes coffee and cake, fashion show
Come up to 45 minutes early to place bids on the silent auction. Bring your loonies and twoonies and chequebook to take advantage of  these great items!