This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
The spring concert season has arrived with three this weekend and more later in the month.
Arts Orillia has the 2nd Forever Young concert happening March 5 at the Opera House. There are 5 acts performing: Domicile, Hoperfilly, Sleepy Jan, Still Deciding, and Lincoln Baragar. Showtime is at 7 p.m. and admission is $10 at the door.
The Orillia Concert Band has a concert March 7 at St. Paul’s. They are doing a program of music from around the world. Alexandra Teske will be their guest.
Among the tunes they will do are: English Folk Song Suite, Ave Maria (with Alexandra), Radetzky March, Malaguena, Time to Say Goodbye (with Alexandra), Don’t Cry for Me Argentina and closes with Highland Cathedral. The last one has a bagpipe as the lead instrument. Come on, it could work. The note I got from conductor, Randy Hoover indicates Alan, is the soloist. No last name, but let’s assume its Alex’s Alan Cooper. You can get tickets online.
The Cellar Singers have a concert March 8, at 3 p.m. at St. James’ Anglican Church. They’ll be doing Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein, Rejoice in the Lamb by Benjamin Britten, and The Hour Has Come by Irving Glick. You can get tickets online, or at the door.
St. Patrick’s Day is ahead. Keep yours on a swivel when you go see the Flailing Shilaleighs at Higher Ground (Brewery Bay Food Company) in the evening March 17. There is no cover.
The Orillia Youth Centre has a concerts March 20 and 21 with Tim Barry, Nixon Boyd and Skye Wallace, first at Creative Nomad Studios and then at the youth center. Both are sold out.
The Orillia Silver Band has a concert March 21 at St. Paul’s and they’ll be playing music from the Highlands. All the music the OSB are doing is thematically Scottish. The first half is built around Philip Sparke’s seven movement, Hymn of the Highlands. Sparke is one of the best composers of band music of our time. Another great composer, Peter Graham, has a piece on the menu in the second half, Gaelforce. You can get tickets online.
Lightfoot Festival News
The Lightfoot festival committee has announced the Lightfoot Band will return for the third straight year to open the weekend. They will be performing at the Opera House October 29 and tickets are on sale now.
The band changed the format of their show last year to add story time from each member of the band to break up the list of tunes they play. In 2026 they are making another change. Guitarist Carter Lancaster is leaving the band.
When I heard the news last week I was a little shocked. Then I was sad. Carter and I had a good chat last year and he gave no indication he would not be back this year. So I checked in with Carter to find out more and he said there is no controversy, the band is fine. The band wants to increase the number of concerts they do this year and have already had two last month. That was the problem. Carter’s mother has Alzheimer’s Disease and he has been caring for her for the last 4 years and he said it’s getting worse. He determined he could not keep an increased road schedule and look after his mother too.
He told me he informed the band last August they should start looking for a replacement. When Andy Mauck joined the band to fill Gord’s role it fell to Carter to help Andy integrate, helping Andy to better understand his already comprehensive understanding of the guitar playing and teach him the parts Andy didn’t have down solid, and other performance aspects.
The band is disappointed to lose a member and friend, but they understand. At the same time they are working in Carter’s replacement, Bill Bell. The band has done four shows of their 2026 season in the last week and drummer Barry Keane sent a note saying the new guy, Bill Bell, is a perfect fit for the band.
Bill has been the music director and guitarist for Jason Mraz, and played and recorded with Tom Cochrane and Andy Kim, Jimmy Rankin, Alex Lifeson, and Larry Gowan.
Mariposa
As I wrote the last column I learned Randi Fratkin died. I was unable to verify it with Mariposa president Pam Carter or any other source and I only had Lynn Miles’s Facebook post to go by, so I opted to not say anything until something official was released.
Randi was the artistic director of the festival from 2000 to 2006 and had been part of the programming committee since 1995. She was at last year’s festival and appeared to be same as usual, so her death surprised many in the music community.
In other festival happenings, the annual Gospel and Blues concert was terrific, as usual. The band: Garnetta Cromwell, Jesse O’Brien, Mackenzie Jordan, Steve Pelletier, Everton White and band leader/show producer Lance Anderson was, in the context of previous versions for this event, hot as ever (considering this was the first time this crew played together).
The show opened with Lance and Everton on B3 and drums playing Bob Dylan’s Got High Hopes. This is the way all the previous versions of the February concert have begun, just organ and drums. Then each member of the band came out, song by song, to perform as the set list was run.
The first half closed with Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground. The band created a new intro and Lance only said it was a Stevie Wonder tune, but not which one. I got it two bars into the intro, the rest of the audience got it when Gavin started singing the first line. Last year the first verse of this tune was inserted by Selena Evangeline into the middle of the gospel tune, Up Above My Head.
The second half opened with their version of the Allman Brothers Band’s instrumental, Hot ‘Lanta. Lance only sang one tune this year and it didn’t come until the middle of the second set when he did Dr. John’s How Come My Dog Don’t Bark (When You Come Around).
Gavin took the mic for Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Pride and Joy and led off a round robin rendition of Amazing Grace.
The encore was an inspired version of John Lennon’s Imagine, which considering the times, was delivered with the emotion it deserves.
Lance will be bring a version of this show to the summer festival for a Sunday morning set.
Ahead for the festival is another concert, the Free Label with Evan Rotella opening are at St. Paul’s Centre March 28 and you can get tickets online. The annual audition concert happens all afternoon at the same venue April 11.
Arts Orillia had the dance program Umsamo choreographed by Mafa Makhubalo, with performances by members of the Orillia and Area Black Community Association, happening at the Opera House last week. The show was interesting to see, but I thought a libretto would have helped to understand the story line and maybe from where some of the dances originated. The accompanying music was great, if you like drumming and rhythms. It’s always interesting to hear where some of our western music ideas originated from. This is a program I would like to see again with some better understanding of the stories being portrayed.
Arts Orillia also has their 2nd annual Showcase 2026 dinner/performance fundraiser at the Opera House April 24. Get tickets online.
The Shorts
- The Mariposa Arts Theatre’s Film Night March 25 has Meadowlarks, Silver Screamers April 8 and The President’s Cake April 22. All shows at the Galaxy are at 4 and 7 p.m. Tickets at the door.
- Tom Arnold (yes, that Tom Arnold) is doing stand up at the Midland Cultural Centre April 12. He’s calling it My Crazy Ex Wife (Rosanne will tell you she is too). Also appearing are Max Measel, Tyler Rich, and all the way from Orillia, Matt Lund. You can get tickets online.
- OMAH has three new exhibits to see, the annual Women’s Day Art Show and Made in Orillia; and Face To Face: Portraits From the Permanent Collection you can also see Tracing Places: Advertising In Orillia and the permanent display of artefacts from Gord’s estate… Maker’s Circle has Molly Farquharson’s art featured all month… Peter Street Arts has Judy Flinn’s art featured all month… Apple Annie’s has new art on the walls; among others, see works by Molly Farquharson.
- OMAH has some job openings, permanent and for the summer. You can check out what is available and application criteria online. They are also look for people who would like to join the board of directors. In particular they are looking for people with these skills: fundraising, legal affairs and governance, human resources, business management, and financial/accounting. You can find out more here.
- Zachary Lucky has a new album out. You can listen to, or buy The Lost River Sessions on Bandcamp.
- Quayle’s Brewery has Burke Erwin playing Mar. 5; Vince Therrien plays Mar. 7; Mark Gunn Mar. 8; Ron Whitman Mar. 13, My Missing Piece Mar. 14 and Cam Galloway Mar. 15… the Hog ‘N Penny has Scott Olgard in Mar. 6; Jakob Pearce and Dave Hewitt Mar. 7 and the Kempencelts Mar. 13… The ANAF Club has Bob Taylor playing March 8 at 2 p.m. … Ian Zinn hosts an open mic at the legion March 8 from 2 to 5 p.m.
(Images Supplied) Main: The Cellar Singers (photo by Mike Bailey)
