On Friday, January 19th a truly remarkable duo formed by 20 year old cellist Bryan Cheng and his sister, pianist Silvie Cheng will demonstrate their “virtuoso fireworks” and “impeccable technique” at 7:30 pm on the Frank Venables Theatre stage. Known as the Cheng2 Duo (pronounced Cheng Squared Duo) they will present a program called Russian Soul that features Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff. Bryan believes that music is like a layer of glue that holds human spirits together. He and his sister make this easy to believe.

The dynamic siblings, named one of CBC Music’s “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30” have quickly become an audience favourite wherever they perform. The obvious affection between the two who have made music together for the past 14 years extends into the music itself. It is hardly surprising they have established a reputation for being invited to return engagements at prestigious venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Your entry to a magical winter evening of superb music can be secured by obtaining tickets online www.venablestheatre.ca or at the theatre box office Tuesday – Thursday between 10 am and 3 pm. Buy any 2 or 3 tickets in advance for $21/ticket. An advance single ticket is $23 and a single ticket at the door the evening of the concert is $25. Children and Youth are $2.50. If you come early (6:15) you can enjoy hearing local music students play in the theatre foyer.

Silvie and Bryan are quintessentially Canadian. Silvie describes their background as international as do so many Canadians. Born in Tokyo, Japan, she moved to Ottawa as an infant with her parents who are of Chinese heritage. Bryan, 7 years younger, was born and raised in Ottawa too. Both are multi lingual. Silvie now lives in New York where she performs and also uses advanced video conferencing technology to give weekly lessons to students around the world. Bryan lives in Berlin where he studies music in German and performs worldwide. Silvie remarks, “We are proud Canadians wherever we go.”

Surprisingly the siblings, despite living now on different continents, manage to see each other every few weeks. Nonetheless, the present 8 weeks of touring in B.C. and Ontario is a luxury of time together for the two.

Bryan was mentored from age 8 by Yuli Turovsky, a famed cellist from Moscow who moved to Canada in 1976. At Turovsky’s funeral in 2013, Bryan explained that Turovsky “didn’t want an average cellist”. He had Bryan make his orchestral debut when he was 8 years old. Bryan says, he (Turovsky) told me not to lose my artistic side; for him playing music with your whole heart was important.” Bryan will bring that perspective to the program of Russian music on January 19th. Don’t miss this exceptional opportunity to peek into the Russian soul and to do it with two amazing young Canadians already recognized for their mature impassioned musicianship.

An exciting 25th Anniversary for the annual Mainly for Women Trade Show is coming up on Saturday, February 17, 2018 at the Oliver Community Centre Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This show is a major fundraiser for the Women of Oliver for Women (WOW). All monies raised work “to enhance the lives of women and children in our Community and beyond” including bursaries to help disadvantaged women return to post-secondary education and enhance their careers. These empowering projects are what give the trade show its name. The trade show, however, has something for everyone: men, women and children.

The Trade Show hosts 55 and more vendors bringing a spectacular array of products to view and purchase. A sampling might include healthcare, arts and crafts, fashion jewelry, hair care, preserves, clothing, insurance, real estate, home care products and much much more.

Admission is free! Refreshments are also available from the kitchen to enjoy with family and friends.

Want to be a vendor? $50 gets you a table. Download the information package and application here:

WOW Trade-Show-Info-Sheet 2018

WOW Trade-Show-Entry Form 2018

Deadline for vendor entry forms and payment is February 7th.

Info: Sally Franks, 250-498-0104

Local quilter Marianne Parsons and fabric artist Janet Bednarczyk appear in this upcoming exhibit at the Peachland Art Gallery. The show, Ekphrastic, is features quilts based on 10 Canadian poets with 4 quilts for each poet. There is an opening reception Saturday January 13th from 12 noon – 3 pm at the art gallery with many artists in attendance. So what is “ekphrastic”? Seethe Wikipedia explanation below…

Ekphrasis, from the Greek for the description of a work of art produced as a rhetorical exercise, often used in the adjectival form ekphrastic, is a vivid, often dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art, either real or imagined. In ancient times, it referred to a description of any thing, person, or experience. The word comes from the Greek words for ‘out’ and ‘speak’ , and the verb ekphrázein, “to proclaim or call an inanimate object by name”.

According to the Poetry Foundation, “an ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art.”[2] More generally, an ekphrastic poem is a poem inspired or stimulated by a work of art.

Ekphrasis has been considered generally to be a rhetorical device in which one medium of art tries to relate to another medium by defining and describing its essence and form, and in doing so, relate more directly to the audience, through its illuminative liveliness. A descriptive work of prose or poetry, a film, or even a photograph may thus highlight through its rhetorical vividness what is happening, or what is shown in, say, any of the visual arts, and in doing so, may enhance the original art and so take on a life of its own through its brilliant description. One example is a painting of a sculpture: the painting is “telling the story of” the sculpture, and so becoming a storyteller, as well as a story (work of art) itself. Virtually any type of artistic medium may be the actor of, or subject of ekphrasis.

In this way, a painting may represent a sculpture, and vice versa; a poem portray a picture; a sculpture depict a heroine of a novel; in fact, given the right circumstances, any art may describe any other art, especially if a rhetorical element, standing for the sentiments of the artist when she/he created her/his work, is present.