Avoid temptation after Hallowe’en! The arts council welcomes your donations of leftover candies to add to the goodie bags at the Holly Jolly Oliver concert in late November. We are looking for NON-Hallowe’en-y treats, so you can eat all the orange and black gummies and chewy zombie body parts yourself. Must be commercially produced and individually wrapped, for food safety, and small enough to fit into sandwich baggies.
Your bagged goodies can be dropped off at TELUS Store at Oliver Place Mall Hours: 9 – 5 Monday through Friday 10 – 4 Saturday
What could be better than hearing one fine musician on a grand piano? Why, hearing two fine musicians on two grand pianos of course!
That is what the South Okanagan Concert Society is offering when the Bergmann Piano Duo perform at Venables Theatre 7:30 pm, Friday, November 15. Last here in 2013, Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann were an enormous hit. He from Munich, Germany and she from Medicine Hat, Canada met at music school in Hanover, Germany. They became a couple and started playing together in 1989.
Innovative and versatile, this appealing duo present a masterful achievement of‘brilliance, rhythmic vitality and melodic shaping. Performing internationally, they play an eclectic mix of classical and contemporary pieces including their own original compositions and arrangements. They have won awards all over Europe with their virtuosic dedication and the instincts of professional entertainers. They also have won Western Canadian Music Awards for their outstanding classical recordings.
Tickets for the concert are available at the Venables Theatre website (click link) or at the theatre box office Tuesdays through Thursdays from 10 to 3 pm. Generous sponsors make ticket prices very affordable. Two or more tickets in advance are only $21/ticket. Single tickets in advance are $23 and at the door $25. Youth are almost free’ at $2.50. We want the younger generation exposed to quality music.
As well as performing careers, the Bergmanns enjoy teaching and have been on faculty at Mt. Royal University and the University of Calgary. They work in other capacities in the music industry and promote the Banff Centre for the Arts. At present, they live in White Rock and love the ocean and the natural surroundings there.
Elizabeth says, “There is order, patterns and structure evident in nature similar to that in music. Nature and music feed our souls.” Marcel particularly likes to invent his own arrangements of contemporary repertoire. He enjoys “built-in opportunities for free variations and improvisational elements while still following a well established overall form and structure.”
Don’t miss this event. If the Bergmanns are half as good as the last time they performed here, you will be more than happy! Come and travel where the muse has taken them in recent years.
After our TGIF 4 o’clock Social (Friday Oct 25), we are proud to host the October Dinner Dance Party for Sarren! It starts at 6:30 pm and is $20 to join the cause, and you get to enjoy dinner by Pappa’s Firehall Bistro and music by Jeremy Messenger. Our dear friend and Firehall Jam Night regular, Chef Sarren Wolfe of Penticton, is fighting a terrible cancer, Multiple Myeloma, and while he is doing the hard work of healing and beating this unwelcome invader, it’s up to us Friends of Chef Sarren Wolfe to surround him with all the love and support we can. Tickets available on our Event Webpage: Firehall Brewery EventsPie Bakers Wanted! Our Third Annual Pumpkin Pie Contest is on Saturday, November 9th. We supply the sugar pumpkins, you bake your best pie, and we bring them all together for a judged tasting. The winning recipe gets made into a Pumpkin Pie Cask, which we’ll tap at the next big party here at the Beer Shop & Social. If you’re interested, register via RSVP at Firehall Brewery Events and we’ll contact you shortly after to pick up your pumpkin from the Beer Shop & Social, grown locally by Oxbow Flats Farm! May the best pie win!
Oliver Arts and Crafts hosts Arts and Crafts Fair an old-fashioned Christmas market Friday November 15 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday November 16 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Oliver Community Hall FREE Admission Lunches and refreshments available for purchase. Oliver Food Bank donations welcome This is always THE place to get all those hard-to-shop-for presents. And also all those easy-to-shop-for presents. Seriously, the place to get all your shopping done in one fell swoop.
“I want to get married,go out west, build a log cabin,raise a bunch of kids,volunteer in my community, and then write a book about it.”
In 1978, during a golden age of middle-class prosperity, newly wed Kevin and Eleanor, like other young people at the time, felt the irresistible pull of the Back-to-the-Land movement and left behind everything they knew and loved to live far from the city and off the grid. As they searched western Canada for a place to settle, abandoned homesteads warned that their dream would be hard won.
10 Days in December journals Kevin and Eleanor’s adventures living for the first ten days in their wilderness cabin facing the demands of winter, where harsh reality and self-denial test their love and commitment.
Along the way practical Kevin and idealistic Eleanor will learn if they have what it takes to live in the mountains and with each other.
Eleanor shares her true ‘coming-of-age’ story exploring what resources from her sheltered childhood could help her endure the isolation, cold and darkness of this northern river valley.
Author Eleanor Deckert recounts her experiences on Wednesday October 23 at 2:00 p.m. at the Oliver Library at the corner of Station Street and Fairview.
This book began when Eleanor Deckert was 8-years old. Words from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memories from the 1860’s and 70’s, preserved in Little House in the Big Woods, spoke to her. “This is now. It can never be long ago.” Eleanor realized, even as a child, that someday her 1960’s and 70’s memories would also be “long ago.” She determined to carefully remember her own experiences, thoughts, beliefs and decisions so that she could one day write about people, places and the times she was living in.
On Wednesday October 23 she shares a self-sufficient lifestyle with her husband in a picturesque river valley in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada.
In 21st century Canada, Halloween means costumes, trick-or-treating, and lots of candy. But what was Halloween like a century ago? The BC Provincial Police Station (now the Oliver Museum) was built in 1924. What costumes did the people of Oliver wear that year? What did they do to celebrate? The Oliver & District Heritage Society is here to answer that question! Hint: there was a lot of orange and black.
Put on your costume and join us in celebrating Halloween while we take a trip back in time. This 1924-style Halloween party will take place on Sunday, October 27th from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm at the Oliver Museum (474 School Avenue, Oliver, BC). Try your hand at actual 1920s Halloween games and activities such as paper hat-making, ghost stories, fortune-telling, and more. This event is free and suitable for all ages. Don’t forget to visit our costume photographer to have your picture or your child’s picture taken in costume, enter a draw to win a door prize, and enjoy Halloween treats while you take in the decorations of 1924.
For more information, please contact the Oliver & District Heritage Society at 250-498-4027 or email us at info@oliverheritage.ca.
Time to stretch your boundaries! Like working with fabrics and textiles? Looking for new mixed media techniques? Join Surfaces (Textiles group), a member group of the Oliver arts council.
Surfaces Textiles is an OPEN group for anyone who is interested in exploring techniques involving art – using textiles. In the past we have explored ways to develop complex cloth using layers of unique designs. We have done ice dying, chemical dying, resist dying, discharge printing. We have made our own block prints and printed on fabric and paper using our own blocks and commercial blocks. We have made our own silk screens and printed with them. We have explored resist dying using wax, rice flour and stitch. We also have explored felting and using wool in our compositions. We have explored techniques for composition in abstract as well as landscape designs.
The first workshop was Thursday September 26 but there are four more Thursdays awaiting you this fall! October 17, November 7, November 28 and December 19. Meet at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre (Studio Building), 5840 Airport Street, Oliver from 1-4 pm. There are no boundaries in what we can choose to work on. The only thing that is required is that you are open to experimenting new techniques and are open to sharing.
The cost is $5.00 per session or $25.00 for the fall season which includes 5 sessions.
Please bring your ideas and thoughts about what you would like to learn more about this season. Also please bring works in progress or completed to share and for feedback.
Ofra Harnoy, one of the greatest cellists on the world’s concert stage, is performing at Venables Theatre in Oliver at 7:30 pm, Friday, October 4th. The South Okanagan Concert Society is absolutely thrilled. Ofra was in Oliver years ago as a student from the Banff School of the Arts. Her talent back then was exceptional and it came as no surprise when her career sky rocketed. Canada is proud and has honoured her with membership in the Order of Canada. She has won 5 Juno awards. She became the first Canadian classical instrumental soloist since Glen Gould to gain an exclusive worldwide contract with a major record label.
Tickets for the concert are available on line @ www.venablestheatre.ca or at the theatre box office Tuesday through Thursdays from 10 to 3 pm. Generous sponsors make the tickets very affordable. Two or more tickets in advance are only $21/ticket. Single ticket in advance is $23 and at the door $25. Youth are ‘almost free’ at $2.50. We want the younger generation to be exposed to fine music.
Ofra will perform with Canadian, Mike Herriott, a respected multi-instrumentalist in both classical and jazz genres. A fine trumpet player, Harriott also happens to be Ofra’s talented husband.
Also performing will be pianist Dr. Kinza Tyrell. She made her orchestral debut with the Victoria Symphony at age 12 and earned a doctorate in Piano & Vocal Accompanying Performance from McGill University in 2003. She has held numberous conducting and teaching positions and has been on the faculty at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto since 2004.
Ofra Harnoy was born in Israel and moved with her family to Toronto in 1971. She made her professional debut as a soloist at age 10. Her solo-orchestral and recital debuts at Carnegie Hall in 1982 brought her public and critical acclaim. Known for her virtuosity, her warm but powerful touch and her passionate stage presence, Ofra says not a day went by without playing her cello since she was 5 ½. She “had the drive” and was soon living her dream. She threw herself into it with abandon and didn’t flinch at 16 hour recording sessions. Somehow she managed to raise a son and a daughter too.
In 2011 this beloved cellist hit a wall. In a performance with Anton Kuerti her shoulder became so painful she thought the bow would fall from her hand. Years of overuse had led to shredded tendons, surgery and a slow but determined recovery.
She is now back on stage where she belongs. We welcome her with open arms and a program that encompasses music from “Baroque to the Beatles and Beyond”.
The Firehall Brewery presents Shaun Rawlins & Tyler Bartfai Friday September 20 7:00 pm Tickets: $10
Two independent singer-songwriters that each have distinct writing styles that range from folk to blues to Americana, making for a very engaging show.
Spicy Jazz! with FunkFake Mextape at the Firehall Brewery on Sunday September 22nd. 6:00 p.m. show. Entry by donation.
These young Mexicanos have been spicing up our JAM NIGHT at the Beer Shop (every 2nd Thurs), and now they’re taking it to the next level! This Sunday, they’ll be on the big stage, laying down reggae grooves, ska rhythms, and jazzy melodies, all with a Mexican flair. Don’t miss it!
We’re very lucky and excited to have El Sabor de Marina’s highway-side Mexican Cantina on-site at the brewery selling Mexican food for dinnertime and the concert!
Skank your way down to the Firehall Brewery Beer Shop & Social below the Old Firehall on Saturday September 28th for Stagger Blue from Nelson, British Columbia, staring Randy McShaner and Jordan Bonin (and we’ve got our fingers crossed for a guest appearance by Chace Alaric!)
The Wienery will be on-site slangin’ their gourmet hot dogs, so save room for their delicious creations, and a few bucks for the band.
Internationally renowned Red Sky Performance bring their newest work TRACE to Venables Theatre.
Trace explores Indigenous connections to ancestral origins and all things traceable through dance. Inspired by Anishinaabe cosmology, our star and sky stories, Trace maps our origin and evolution. For tens of thousands of years, Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island have mapped the night sky, studied the stars, and established an expansive view of the world and body of knowledge that has often been ignored and erased. Trace features six dancers and multi-media to explore what has come before us and what is yet to come.
Red Sky creates, produces and tours new original dance, theatre and live music creations that illuminate themes, aesthetics and values of importance to Indigenous peoples. They are a leading company of contemporary Indigenous performance in Canada and worldwide. Their multi award winning company was founded in 2000 by Artistic Director Sandra Laronde of the Teme-Augama-Anishinaabe (People of the Deep Water). Their mandate is to create inspiring experiences of contemporary Indigenous arts and culture.
They have garnered an international reputation for collaborating on landmark projects with some of the most prestigious artists and companies from around the globe. This year Red Sky Performance presented TRACE at the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival where it played to six sold out performances and six standing ovations. Red Sky Performance continues to significantly influence the artistic evolution and innovation of contemporary Indigenous performance in Canada and around the world.
Trace is presented by Venables Theatre with the support of the Community Presenters Assistance program (of the BC Arts Council and BC Touring Council) and The Coast Oliver hotel.
Red Sky Performance brings Trace to Venables Theatre onWednesday October 16th at 7:00 at 6100 Gala Street in Oliver.
Tickets are $32 for adults and $20 for students. For more information visit www.venablestheatre.ca
How much of Flamenco is influenced by traditional Indian dance? What part of Flamenco can trace its roots to ancient India? What elements of Indian culture is retained in contemporary Flamenco dance and music? The components of Flamenco, hailed by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is a complex story.
As a first generation Canadian, born to Malaysian parents of South Indian descent, Deborah “La Caramelita” Dawson-Mourocq has enchanted international audiences for over 10 years with her unique style of dance. Her new show “Nritya” tells Deborah’s story through dance, the story of an immigrant family and an artist connecting with an art form that seems totally foreign, but one that she is historically linked with.
La Caramelita Flamenco Company presents “NRITYA” on Thursday October 3 at 8:00 p.m. at the Venables Theatre. TICKETS: $30, Students $25 www.venablestheatre.ca
Why Flamenco and Indian music? It is a popular theory that the Roma people, who have greatly contributed to the creation and culture of flamenco, came from Northern India to Andalucía many centuries ago. Through this show, Deborah performs a journey in search of her origins but also a reconstruction of bridges that had disappeared between flamenco and its Roma-Indian roots.The result isn’t an India-Flamenco fusion show but rather a personal story of dependence and independence, adversity and diversity and a unison of global values
One translation of “nritya” is “storytelling and emotions created by movement”. This word, “nritya”, resonates with the theme of this new production – telling Deborah’s story through dance.
This fall, for the first time in Canada, international Flamenco company “La Caramelita”, will unravel the mysteries, origins and nuances of Flamenco in a mesmerizing, intimate and original production called NRITYA. Led by Vancouver born artistic director, Deborah Dawson, the production is an Indo-Canadian woman’s exploration of her heritage through flamenco dance.
“We have used existing parallels between two cultures to tell the story of an immigrant family and an artist connected to a seemingly distant art form,” explains Dawson. “As a first generation Canadian, born to Malaysian parents of Indian descent, it was a struggle to find my identity. I stumbled upon Flamenco in my early teens and soon found out that flamenco has some of its roots in India. The idea that I had come full circle, studying an art form that shared the same background as my family, fueled me to move to Spain – the birthplace of Flamenco.”
“La Caramelita Flamenco Company” is based in Bordeaux, France, where Dawson and her husband, Flamenco singer Alejandro Mendía, call home. NRITYA is powered by guitarist, Guillermo Guillén, who won the prestigious Lámpara Minera Festival Award when accompanying famed Flamenco singer Rocio Márquez in 2008. Multi-instrumentalist, Alex Carrasco brings a modern, electronic beat to NRITYA mixing traditional percussion instruments like the cajon drum with an MPC. Also joining the company for NRITYA is the Madrid based flautist, Lara Wong. Another Vancouverite that followed her passion to Spain, Wong’s talent transcends flamenco, jazz, classical, and latin genres. The McGill music graduate’s original bansuri compositions in NRITYA are haunting and desolate, fragile and strong – reflecting values associated with female emancipation, spirituality, and the importance of art in a divided time.
NRITYA seamlessly intertwines familiar Indian songs, such as the spiritual “Kattey” by activist Bhanvari Devi, with the traditional flamenco rhythm, “tarantos” to share religious tones that speak of love and spiritual guidance in trying times. Another example of the company’s blend is the use of Konnakol, the vocal performance of percussive syllables in South Indian Carnatic music, to match the percussive staccato of Flamenco footwork.
“We’ve created a new language – a new algorithm if you will, mixing various Indian influences with flamenco. We try to do this with respect and during the creative process we’ve found that the possibilities are endless,” – explains singer Mendía.
The legendary Sons of the Pioneers are the gold standard for Western music, delivering thrilling harmonies, iconic yodeling, and poetic images of the West. Signature songs like “Cool Water,” “Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” and “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” forever rooted in Western lore, are stirring new audiences of all ages.
The Sons of the Pioneers, Western music legends, perform on Wednesday October 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Venables Theatre. TICKETS: $56, Under 19 $28 www.venablestheatre.ca
The Pioneers are the most decorated group in Western music, winning honours such as the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Western Music Association Hall of Fame, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Texas Swing Hall of Fame, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, to name a few. The group’s renditions of “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and “Cool Water” have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the Smithsonian Institution has named the group one of America’s “National Treasures.”
“We are honoured to return to British Columbia,” says Tommy Nallie (lead guitar and vocals), “Canadians really know and appreciate Western music, and that makes it really fun for us, too.”
Roy Rogers Jr., “Dusty” is the son of the ‘King Of the Cowboys’- Roy Rogers Sr. Roy Rogers Sr. founded the band in 1934 with Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer. Today “Dusty” Rogers is the M.C. for the Sons Of The Pioneers and sings middle harmony in the vocals- like his father did years ago !”
