This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
There is an exhibition/sale of Marlene Bulas’s paintings happening at Creative Nomad Studios September 16. It’s the last day and I was unable to forecast this event because of a server issue.
Some of the proceeds will go to the Canadian Federation of University Women Orillia’s Education Foundation Scholarship Fund to establish a $2000 scholarship for a female student in Marlene’s name.
The hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you buy 3 or more paintings they’ll knock 20% off the total.
You Won’t Believe It
I saw the Orillia Silver Band concert two years ago when they had Kyung-A Lee as their guest performer. The heavy weight item on the menu was Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. This a piece of music most listeners of classical music will know. Two things amazed me about the performance, aside from Kyung-A’s piano playing. One was the arrangement for brass band transposed by Neil Barlow from the orchestral arrangement and then the sensitivity of the band playing it.
The other main piece, Libertango by Astor Piazzolla, was done equally as well. I am always prepared for how the OSB is going to sound when they have a concert, I was not prepared for how they sounded with the music they played for this concert, which was well beyond the kind of typical brass band orchestration. Kyung-A had set the bar when the concert opened playing three solo pieces that were of the ‘you think you can play the piano, do you?’ variety. Aside from being mesmerized by the flying fingers, I noticed she made the Opera House piano sound quite different from how it sounds with other players at the keyboard. There was a balance between the upper and lower register I had not heard before.
Well, round two is happening September 21 at St. Paul’s Centre. She will open the show on solo again with pieces by Chopin, Glinka and Rachmaninoff. The format changes from last time when Karen Richards on flute and Kim Barlow on clarinet join her for Clair de lune, and Rhapsody on Carmen by Michael Webster.
Then the band enters the picture, or stage in this case. They will play Prelude on Tallis by Peter Graham, and the Little Suite for Brass by Malcolm Arnold. Kyung-A will return to join the OSB to do Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, for which Neil again has done the arrangement for the band.
I think this is going to be a fantastic concert. You can get tickets for the 3 p.m. concert online.
Another concert happening soon is the finale of Anne Walker’s 3rd series of summer concerts at the Coulson Church (Horseshoe Valley Road) September 28 with her own gig. She is also debuting her album, Sunny and Blue.
Joining her are Angie Nussey, Ray Dillard, Dave MacMillan, Neil Walker and Katie Lem. An extra element is a dance performance by Tara Butler to one of the tunes from the album.
You can get tickets for the 2 p.m. concert online.
The night before the OSB concert, St. Paul’s will have the air let out of it by The Sadies. The last time I saw the band was in 2023 when they played a fundraiser for the Orillia Youth Centre at Fern Resort. This was as a trio, a year and a half after the sudden death of Dallas Good. Were they loud? Of course they always have been, but to me loudness isn’t a factor when the sound is clean. And, that’s’ not loud in a metal kind of way, their sound is more like country rock.
The date is September 20 and Terra Lightfoot is opening the show. She also did a youth center concert. In fact it was the first concert for anyone post-pandemic at the Sunset Barrie Drive-In back in 2020.
This concert is a fundraiser for the youth center and you can get tickets online. That’s the place on the internet where you can also get tickets for the other youth center concerts; Kevin Seconds, Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One, and Nixon Boyd play October 10 at Creative Nomad, and October 11 at the youth center; and Danny Michel with special guest Roger Harvey play at the youth center October22.
Highest Bidder
Not the ‘what did I do last night?’ kind, but putting the most down with some sort of awareness. The Orillia Museum of Art and History has an online auction happening right now for a selection of photographs from the Voices Through Time: A Mariposa Journey exhibition. These are photos taken by Edwin Gailits in the 70s, and Deb Halbot during the Orillia Part Two run of the festival.
You can see the photos and register to bid here. The auction closes at 6:30 p.m. September 25, which will immediately be followed by a party at OMAH. The party starts at 5 p.m., but it will follow the closing of the auction too. Rebekah Hawker will be playing some music (you could go just for that, I would, am). The exhibit will stay up until the 27th if you can’t make it the 25th.
When you visit OMAH you can also see see a permanent exhibit of their acquisition of items from Gordon Lightfoot’s estate, Gordon Lightfoot: Turning Back The Pages, in the small gallery on the main floor. The main gallery has the spectacular Yours To Uncover: An Ontario Road Trip featuring the work of Peter Fyfe and John Notten and upstairs Orillia: Then And Now a collection of historical photos of Orillia landmarks and buildings contrasted with recent photos of the same by Samantha Vessios.
Do you have tickets for OMAH’s Music For The Museum event, November 1? Jacquie Dancyger Arnold, Hugh Coleman, Ross Arnold, Blair Bailey, Laura Kelly, and Gail Spencer are performing.
Culture Day
Culture Days is still a thing in Canada. It runs from mid-September to mid-October with communities picking their dates in that window. Here it’s October 2. An event has been organized to happen at Creative Nomad Studios starting at 6 p.m.
Light refreshments are provided by the Orillia Native Women’s Group. There will be an exhibit by the Arts Orillia Animation Art and Photography Collage Youth Lab and a storytelling and a visual storytelling program presented by North Simcoe Arts.
There is a storytelling program with Ty the Poetess and LifteD, the Orillia & Area Black Community Association, and a preview from Mariposa Arts Theatre’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
They have room for you to tell a story. They’d like you to register your participation before hand, but there is an open mic happening as well.
The Shorts
- MAT’s Film Night at the Galaxy starts Sept. 17 with The Penguin Lessons at 4 and 7 p.m.; next is Jane Austen Wrecked My Life Sept. 24; Santosh Oct. 8 and A Nice Indian Boy Oct. 22.
- Don’t forget the Mariposa Folk Festival/Sustainable Orillia tree planting event in Tudhope Park Sept. 20. They are planting 20 trees and need about 40 volunteers to help. You can register to volunteer online
- Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital Foundation has a gala happening Nov. 15 at Lakehead University. Music is by John Amato singing jazz standards. You can get tickets online.
- Nate Robertson did the music for a film by Barbara Sternberg called Experimental Experience, Novel Senses and its being shown at Alleycats Music Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
- Meredith Moon has a new album out this week. You can listen to From Here to the Sea online.
- The Mariposa Folk Festival has their fall Mariposa-in-Concert event happening November 29 at St. Paul’s Centre with JD Crosstown opening for Aysanabee. He performed at the 2022 festival and is the first Native musician to win Juno Awards for Alternative Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. You can get tickets online right now.
- Derick Lehmann has two events happening. The annual Trunk or Treat at ODAS Park happens Oct. 26 and it’s time to register your trunk (it’s free even though you click the ticket link). In November he has a 90s Dance Party on the 15th, also at ODAS Park and you can get tickets here.
- Quayle’s Brewery has Andrew Walker playing Sept. 18; Upbeat Groove Sept. 19; Burke Erwin Sept. 20 and Kat Chabot Sept. 21… the Hog ‘N Penny has an afternoon jam session every Sunday with Sean Patrick and others.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: Marlene Bulas, October 2021 Images Studio Tour
