Monday, December 19, 2011

Concert Listings December 19 - January 3

Wednesday December 21 and Thursday December 22, 2011 7pm Amahl and the Night Visitors - an hour long Christmas opera by G.C. Menotti. Presented by A Little Opera Company. Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 10037 84 Av. $15-$5.

Wednesday December 21, 2011 7:30pm and December 22 at 8pm A Lightly Classical Christmas, Edmonton Symphony. Stuart Chafetz, conductor, Nathan Berg, baritone, Richard Eaton Singers. Winspear Centre.

Tuesday December 27, 2011 6:30pm Christmas Fundraising Concert for the Anne Burrows Music Foundation. Vocalists Alexandra von der Ohe and Carrie Dimaculangan, Angelina Weber and Ewald Cheung, violin, Taddes Korris, double bass, and Karl Schwonik, percussion. Michael Massey, music director. $25 at door or from Fran Armstrong 780 487 5567 or farmstrong@shaw.ca. Please bring a non-perishable food item for the Edmonton Food Bank. Tax deductible donation can be mailed to PO Box 76115 RPO Southgate, Edmonton T6H 5Y7 or online via http://www.canadahelps.org/. Giovanni Yamaha Concert Hall, 10528 Mayfield Rd.

Sunday January 1, 2012 2:30pm Salute to Vienna - Neujahrskonzert. The Strauss Symphony of Canada. Niels Muus, conductor, Katarzyna Dondalska, soprano, Alexander Kaimbacher, tenor, Dancers from Ballet St. Pölten. Winspear Centre.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Lieutentant Governor Emerging Artist Awards - call for nominations


2012 Lieutenant Governor Emerging Artist Awards

The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Foundation has established a program of awards for emerging artists to support and encourage promising artists, early in their careers, while also serving to raise the profile of the arts in Alberta.

The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Awards are awarded every second year, beginning in 2008. Each Award consists of $10,000 and a medal. Up to ten prizes may be awarded in each awards cycle. Award recipients are selected by an application and adjudication process. Emerging Alberta Artists who meet the eligibility criteria may make application for the Award.

Application deadline: February 10, 2012

For more information, please click HERE

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

UPDATED! Concert Listings December 13 - 18

Tuesday December 13, 2011 7pm UofA music - Graduate Student Composers Concert featuring the Enterprise Quartet. Dr. Andriy Talpash, conductor. Admission by donation. Studio 27, Fine Arts Bldg, UofA.

December 16 - 30, 2011 (various times) The Wizard of Oz. Written by L. Frank Baum, Music and Lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg. Directed by Richard Winnick, Music Direction by Sally Hunt. Festival Place, Sherwood Park.

Friday December 16, 2011 12pm Christmas Bureau Sing-along with Edmonton's talented choir community. Admission is FREE and volunteers will be accepting donations. Winspear Centre. Donations can also be made online at http://www.christmasbureau.ca/

Friday December 16, 2011 8pm FREE The University of Alberta Guitarists. Works by Albinoni, Albeniz, Bach, Dyens, Gagne, Piazzola, Rameau, Roman and others. Studio 27, Fine Arts Building, UofA.

Friday December 16 and Saturday December 17, 2011 7:30pm Handel's Messiah William Eddins, conductor, Linda Perillo, soprano, Frances Jellard, mezzo-soprano, John Tessier, tenor, Nathan Berg, baritone, U of A Madrigal Singers, i Coristi Chamber Choir. Winspear Centre.

Friday December 16 - 18, 2011 The Singing Christmas Tree - Jubillee Auditorium.

Saturday December 17, 2011 7:30pm Mill Creek Colliery Band – Festive Brass. David Hoyt, conductor. Robertson-Wesley United Church, $18, $14 available at the door or Tix on the Square.

Saturday December 17, 2011 7:30pm Cosmopolitan Music Society - Monday and Chorus Christmas Concert. Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre 8426 Gateway Blvd. Tickets $10 adults, $7 students/seniors and children five and under are FREE when purchased in advance.

Saturday December 17, 2011 7:30pm Jubiloso Bells of Concordia and Concordia Community Chorus. First Presbyterian Church, 10025 105 St.

Sunday December 18, 2011 2:30pm A Pro Coro Christmas, Pro Coro Canada, with Da Camera Singers, Dr. John Brough, conductor. Winspear Centre.

Sunday December 18, 20117:30pm 2nd Annual Community Carol Sing at Riverbend United Church, 14907-45 Av. Refreshments to follow.

Sunday December 18, 2011 7pm Night of Wonder – A Family Night of Music. St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 201 Haddow Close (Terwillegar Drive and 23 Av). Free will offering, reception to follow.

Edmonton Youth Choir's Star Light, Star Bright - December 17, 2011

Friday, December 9, 2011

Opus 32 - Christmas Fundraising Concert for the Anne Burrows Foundation

A musical foundation that’s helped elevate the careers of such local prodigies as Angela Cheng to international status will be holding its 32nd annual festive recital this month. The Opus 32 – Christmas Fund Raising Concert, a fundraiser for the Anne Burrows Music Foundation, takes place Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 6:30 p.m. at Giovanni Yamaha Concert Hall (10528 Mayfield Road).

The Opus concerts provide the foundation the opportunity to showcase the talents of the scholarship recipients, create public awareness of the foundation's mission, and provide an important fundraising opportunity. Artists slated to perform will consist of current and previous recipients of assistance from the foundation, including vocalists Alexandra von der Ohe and Carrie Dimaculangan, violinists Angelina Weber and Ewald Cheung, double bassist Taddes Korris and percussionist Karl Schwonik. The event’s music director, Michael Massey, will also perform with the participating recipients.

The Opus 32 – Christmas Fund Raising Concert is a testament to the work of Edmonton Journal and CBC Radio arts critic Dr. Anne Burrows, frequently hailed as “the first lady of Edmonton’s musical past.” Burrows was also a musician, music teacher, arts philanthropist and recipient of such honours as the Order of Canada (1992) and the Alberta Centennial Arts Medal (2005), and has been instrumental in helping gifted musical artists achieve their dreams via the foundation she started in 1979. Although Burrows, who was blind since the age of six, died in 2007, a dedicated group of cultural devotees continues her work today.

Tickets for the show are $25 and available at the door or by contacting Fran Armstrong at 780-487-5567 or via email to farmstrong@shaw.ca. In the spirit of the season, the owners of the Giovanni Yamaha Concert Hall are not charging the foundation for the use of the facility, but ask patrons to bring a non-perishable item for the Edmonton Food Bank.

The foundation also accepts tax-deductible donations, which can be mailed to P.O. Box 76115, RPO Southgate, Edmonton, AB T6H 5Y7 or online via canadahelps.org and entering Anne Burrows Music Foundation in the search window.

Review - A Birthday Concert to Remember - Edmonton Symphony Orchestra

From Sound and Noise -  University of Alberta Music Students on Music

What happens when a respected, regional orchestra presents its 60th season? The organization celebrates in style. The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, our city’s professional full-sized orchestra, is unashamedly (and rightfully so) promoting its trip to Carnegie Hall on May 8, 2012 to ring in 60 years of music making. The orchestra played its first concert on November 30, 1952 (yes, that makes it 59 years old but this is officially its 60th season), and I was lucky to witness a captivating concert on November 30, 2011. There was even one audience member, named Hope, who led the second violins in that first performance 59 years ago. The crowd and the orchestra showed her their admiration at the beginning of the second half.

Conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni, the evening was fittingly named “Berlioz, Respighi & Elgar.” I admit that some of my colleagues in the ESO mentioned that Mr. Zeitouni was an inspiring conductor, which only heightened my excitement for the first gesture of his baton. Beginning with Ottorino Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano, Zeitouni demonstrated deeply sensitive and exuberant conducting that never overshadowed the work of each orchestra member. Respighi’s music always creates an evocatively vivid picture and, as you may have gotten from the title, Zeitouni chose a work that Respighi based on three paintings by Botticelli (whose real name was Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi). The orchestra’s string players earned their keep in the first movement, “La Primavera” (Spring), a joyously shimmering piece that required measure after measure of trills from the strings. As winter settles in Edmonton, this first movement only made me think of how excited I will be to see the first leaves appear in April. Zeitouni’s captivating conducting and the orchestra’s assured playing continued throughout the second and final movements, “L’adorazione dei Magi” (The Adoration of the Magi) and “La nascita de Venere” (The Birth of Venus). Next up was mezzo-soprano Mireille Lebel to join the orchestra for Hector Berlioz’s immortal Les nuits d’été.

Lebel walked out with a generous smile that put the whole audience at ease. She looked great. She had a nice voice. Her French was good. There was something strange, though. She seemed, at first, slightly unprepared. For such a famous (and beautiful) song cycle, she seemed to be looking at the music often in the first movement. I was surprised she was using her music at all. Nothing was horribly wrong, but I was unfortunately distracted by her hand gestures that seemed unmotivated. However, without missing a beat, Lebel quickly calmed my fears in the second movement by not once looking at the music and allowing a truly gorgeous instrument and nuanced sense of acting to come through. This movement, “Le spectre de la rose” (The Ghost of the Rose), is the ultimate example of rich, colourful and lugubrious French music of the 19th century, and Lebel perfectly captured every aspect of the piece. “Phew,” I thought. When she was not glued to her score, she was as beautiful to listen to as to watch. Her performance of the fourth movement, “Absence,” was the highlight of the entire work for me. The ESO responded well to her warm voice, playing with its own warm colour that supported Lebel throughout. After a brief intermission, the audience returned to the concert hall of the Winspear Centre in anticipation of a beloved standard in the orchestral repertoire.

Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations is always a favourite of classical music lovers. The depth of colours and the incomparable fame of the “Nimrod” variation make the entire work difficult to fault. All that really needs to be said about the ESO’s performance on Wednesday evening is that it was some of the best playing I had ever heard from the ensemble. With maestro Zeitouni at the helm, each musician held nothing back in creating a captivating performance that rang with endless brilliance from start to finish.

Wednesday night’s concert has left me hoping several things. I hope that the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra will survive the decline of classical music appreciation and stick around for another 60 years, that Jean-Marie Zeitouni will return to conduct the ensemble in the future, and that all classical music concerts will be as engaging and accessible as this one was so that my first wish has a hope of coming true.

Learn more about the ESO’s trip to Carnegie Hall and other upcoming events at their website, www.edmontonsymphony.com.

-Mark Wilkinson

http://thesoundandnoise.com/2011/12/07/a-birthday-concert-to-remember/

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Hark! The Sounds of Holiday Magic Come to City Hall

Do you hear what I hear? It's Holiday Magic bringing the sounds of the season to City Hall. Ring in the holidays with delightful performances by school choirs from across Edmonton.

Don't miss the special performance by the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus on Tuesday December 6, 2011 from 2-3pm.

Please support the Edmonton Food Bank by bringing a non-perishable food item.

For a full list of choirs and the performance schedule, please click HERE.

Amahl and the Night Visitors - December 21 and 22, 2011

Phil Kline's Unsilent Night Sunday December 11, 2011 FREE!

Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night is a free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CDs and MP3s, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets every December. In an act of modern-day caroling, people bring their own boomboxes and drift peacefully through a shimmering cloud of yuletide sounds which is different from every listener's perspective. Since 1992, this 45-minute work has grown into a worldwide annual communal event that has become an essential part of many winter holiday celebrations.

Join us this year for Edmonton's first Unsilent Night, as we lead a chorus of boomboxes from the Timms Centre at the U of A campus, down Whyte Avenue to Gazebo Park on 104 st. by the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market.

Participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own boomboxes, iPod speakers or other sound blasters. We will be handing out a limited number of boomboxes, as well as cassettes, CDs, and MP3 uploads for those who bring their own players. Check out http://www.unsilentnight.com/ or our Facebook event "Unsilent Night Edmonton" to RSVP or for more details.

Unsilent Night Edmonton
Sunday, December 11 2011 6:00-7:00 pm
Meet at 5:45 at the mini pyramids in front of the Timms Centre (112 st & 87 ave)
www.unsilentnight.com
https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/312939362054096/

Concert Listings December 6 - 12

Wednesday December 7 2011 7pm St. Albert Community Band and the Saint City Big Band - Christmas Concert. Arden Theatre.

December 9, 10 and 11, 2011 7pm and 1:30pm Alberta Ballet, The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky). Jubillee Auditorium.

Saturday December 10, 2011 2pm and 7pm Kokopelli Choirs – Wintersong. McDougall United Church.

Saturday December 10, 2011 4pm Advent and Christmas Concert with special guests the UofA Faculty of Education Handbell Ringers, Robert de Frece, conductor. Admission by donation to benefit Edmonton Christmas Charities. First Presbyterian Church, 10025 105 St.

Saturday December 10, 2011 7pm Salvation Army's Festival of Carols - a family Christmas concert. Free admission - ticket required for entry. Tickets available at Salvation Army Offices - 780 423 2111

Saturday December 10, 2011 7:30pm and Sunday December, 11 2011 2:30pm Cosmopolitan Music Society - Tuesday and Wednesday Band Christmas Concert . Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre 8426 Gateway Blvd. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7.00 for students/seniors and children five and under are FREE when purchased in advance.

Saturday December 10, 2011 7:30pm Festival City Winds Music Society, Robert Tegler Student Centre, 7128 Ada Blvd.

Sunday December 11, 2011 1pm Schola Cantorum Choirs Festival of Light Concert. Muttart Hall, Alberta College.

Sunday December 11, 2011 3pm Concert de Noël - Chorale Saint-Jean with Les Chantamis d'Edmonton, Marie-Josée Ouimet, director. McDougall United Church, $25 and $15. Tickets available from members of both choirs and at the Librairie Le Carrefour (Cité francophone, 8627 rue Marie-Anne-Gaboury). Benefit for the Choralies internationales Edmonton 2012.

Sunday December 11, 2011 3pm Silent Night - the Wirth Institute's annual Christmas concert. UofA, Convocation Hall.

Sunday December 11, 2011 4pm Music of Hope and Light - Lessons and Carols. Choir of Robertson-Wesley, soloists, Tammy-Jo Mortensen, Director, Belinda Chiang, accompanist. Music by Mark Sirett, Lydia Adams, and W.H. Anderson. Free will offering.

Sunday December 11, 2011 6pm FREE Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night. An outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts recorded on cassettes, CDs and MP3s played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets. Some boomboxes are available, but bring your own if you can (boomboxes, iPod speakers or other sound blasters). Participants meet at 5:45pm at the mini pyramids in front of the Timms Centre (112 St and 87 Av). Unsilent Night moves down Whyte Avenue to Gazebo Park on 104 St by the Old Strathcona Farmers Market.

Sunday December 11, 2011 7:30pm Steve Bell, guitar - Advent Solo Concert. All Saints Anglican Cathedral 10035 103 St. Tickets $15 available at the Cathedral, Universal Church Supplies or at http://www.stevebell.com/ 1800 854 3499.

Sunday December 11, 2011 7:30pm Greenwood Singers, Hymns and Readings for Christmas. St. Joseph’s Basilica 10044 113 St. Tickets $10, at the door and from St. Joseph’s College, 780 492 7681 ext 231.

Sunday December 11, 2011 2:30pm Cantilon Choirs, Ceremony of Carols. Heather Johnson, artistic director. Winspear Centre, $20, $17. Tix on the Square.

Monday December 12, 2011 8pm Greenwood Singers, The Many Moods of Christmas. Helen Stuart, piano, Marnie Giesbrecht, organ, UofA Faculty of Education Handbell Ringers. Tix on the Square.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Live Choral Music at the Legislature 2011

Live choral music will ring throughout the Legislature most noon hours and evenings in the month of December. Hot cocoa will warm your toes every evening.


Click HERE for the schedule of choir performances from December 1 - 23rd, 2011.

Carols and Lullabies - Vocal Alchemy

Deadline for Nominations - 2012 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts Awards

Nomination deadline January 16, 2012

2012 MAYOR’S CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS AWARD

Mayor Stephen Mandel and the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton (PACE) are pleased to announce the 25th Annual Mayor's Celebration of the Arts on Monday April 2, 2012 at the Winspear Centre. The Mayor's Celebration of the Arts is an annual event designed to acknowledge and celebrate Edmonton’s arts community and partnerships between business and the arts.

Nominations are invited for the following eight awards:
• Award for Innovative Support by a Business for the Arts
• Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
• John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
• ATCO Gas Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement ($2,500 cash prize)
• CN Award for Youth Artist ($2,500 cash prize)
• DIALOG Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction ($2,500 cash prize)
• Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist ($2,500 cash prize)
• TELUS Courage to Innovate Award ($2,500 cash prize)


Guidelines for Nominations

• The nominations for these awards may be made by any resident of Edmonton including individuals and organizations.
• An individual or organization may nominate only one business/individual per category.
• A nominee cannot win in more than one category in the same year.
• Past nominees may be nominated again.
Nominations must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. on Monday, January 16, 2012.


Download nomination form HERE.

Nominations may be sent by e-mail to admin@pacedmonton.com, mailed to PACE at Box 11933 Edmonton, AB, T5J 3L1, or hand delivered to the 1st floor reception desk, City Hall, 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton.

Independent juries will make all award decisions and all decisions of those juries will be final. The juries are comprised of members of the professional arts community, representatives from each corporate sponsor, a representative from the Office of the Mayor (for the Mayor’s Awards) and past winners, when available.

Nominees may not be nominated by family members.

Please note: the nominee and nominator will each receive one free ticket to the performance, which this year includes a post-reception.

You can buy tickets for the ceremony and performances at the Winspear Centre.

Tonus Vivus Festival of New Music December 2 and 3, 2011

Exposing Diversity: New Music Festival Celebrates Edmonton’s Prolific and Imaginative Artists

Reaching out of the concert hall and into the community, the Tonus Vivus Festival of New Music celebrates Edmonton’s diverse sonic arts scene in a two-day exploration of musical expression.

More than just a series of concerts, The Tonus Vivus Festival of New Music embraces composers, dancers, electronic sound artists and improvisers ranging from the traditional to the unexpected.

The Tonus Vivus Festival of New Music December 2 and 3, 2011

Alberta College, Muttart Hall 10050 MacDonald Drive

General: $20 per night
Students: $10 per night

General: $30 Festival Pass
Students: $20 Festival Pass

Featuring performances by: Saint Crispin’s Chamber Ensemble: Allison Balcetis, saxophone
Daniel Gervais, violin
Bill Damur, flute
Moni Mathew, viola
Don Ross, music director & clarinet
Janet Smith, soprano
Andriy Talpash, conductor
Scott Smallwood, sound artist
Wijit, DJ
Reinhard von Berg, electronic artist
MUGBAIT, electronic artists
Thom Golub, bass
Kathleen de Caen, cello
Sylvia Shadick-Taylor, piano
Phil Jagger, sound and visual artist
Jacques Arseneau, tenor

The Tonus Vivus New Music Festival aims to bring attention to some hitherto “unfestivaled” practices while challenging and expanding the notion of what a music festival is by celebrating Edmonton’s astoundingly prolific and imaginative artists.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Friday Dec. 2 at 7:00pm – Muttart Hall, Alberta College

Monica Clorey Pearce: “Imaginary Moments” Saint Crispin’s Chamber Ensemble
Scott Smallwood: “Rites and Dust” laptop performance
Michael Horwood: “Microduet #6” for Tenor Saxophone and Ladder Ratchet
Jacek Sobieraj: “Autumn synthscapes” electronics and video
Kristin Flores: “Emily Dickinson” for cello and voice
Dave Wall: “Broken Lines” for piano
Raimundo Gonzalez: “Arthemis” for alto saxophone
Jeremy Doody: “Monism Explained” voice, clarinet, cello, sop sax, and conductor
Dan Brophy: “Exhumed” pre-recorded tape

Friday Night 9:00pm – Alberta College Lobby

Thom Golub: “Arid” (performed by Don Ross and Thom Golub)
Phil Jagger: “Microcity” (performed by Don Ross, Reinhard, Thom Golub
MUGBAIT and Widjit (performed by them)
Reinhard von Berg: “Extended Piano and Poetry” (performed by Reinhard)
Helve Sastok: “Sailing the High ‘C’”

Saturday Dec. 3 Electronic Tent “The Sounding Room” (running continuously in Alberta College)

Michael Matthews: “On the Outer Edge”
Rolf Boon: “Waves”
Reinhard von Berg: “Cult Figure”
Aris Carastathis: “Full of Stars”
Don Ross: “My Dad’s Story”
Ian Crutchley: “Arco/Lyrically”
Helve Sastok: “Sailing the High ‘C’”
Michael Horwood: “Monday Afternoon”
Robert Morin: “Blue Evening”
Dan Brophy “Exhumed”

Saturday Sound Walk with Scott Smallwood 3:00pm, leaves from Alberta College

Saturday Panel 4:30pm – Alberta College

Michael MacDonald (chair), Gerry Morita, Charles Stolte, Allison Balcetis and George Andrix

Saturday, Dec 3 at 7:00pm

Alissa Cheung: “Close Cover Before Striking” for flute, clarinet, violin, piano and conductor
Elisha Denburg: “Idee Fixe” for piano
Michael Matthews: “Night Music” for violin and piano
William Pura: “Four Songs after Albert Pinkham Ryder”
Ron Hannah: “Trio # 1”, 1st and 3rd mvts for Piano trio
Erin Rogers: “Quartet” for Bb clarinet, violin, violincello and piano
Robert Rosen: “Meditation No. 5 “Mosaic” 1981 for Flute and Piano
Jordan Nobles: “Similacrum” Saint Crispin’s Chamber Ensemble