This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
The Mariposa Folk Festival’s spring Mariposa–In-Concert event is Saturday, March 15 at St. Paul’s Centre at 7:30 p.m.
The stars of the show are Amanda Rheaume and School House. Both were part of last summer’s festival.
Rheaume is Metis and the winner of the 2024 Spirit of Folk Award, the 2023 Canadian Folk Music Award for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year and the 2023 Capital Music Awards’s Album of the Year.
Her album Keep A Fire, was also nominated for a Juno Award. She started the Ishkōdé Records label in partnership with ShoShonna Kish of the great Barrie band, Digging Roots. Obviously both artists’s music is released on that label and so is the music Aysanabee makes.
Rheaume was to have played a concert at the Kennedy Centre April 5, but cancelled. It sucks to have crawled above the masses of musicians all trying to get a gig like that, only to have to back out because all of a sudden the venue management has turned to excrement.
School House is a trio of Ottawa based friends who decided to rent a house together, which had enough room to make music in, only to discover it used to be a school house..
I remember seeing them at last year’s audition concert and was really impressed. They got the invite to the summer gig, as they should have.
You listen to their music here.
You can get tickets online, or at the door.
Also, mark your calendar, the audition concert is April 12 – all afternoon – at St. Paul’s Centre. Admission is free.
It Ain’t Easy Being Green
Monday is St. Patrick’s Day. That means Sunday there will be a party at Couchiching Craft Brewing.
Wait a sec, didn’t? Yes, It’s now Brewery Bay, sort of. The restaurant downstairs is Brewery Bay Food Company, the shiny vats in the back are Couchiching Craft Brewing, and the second floor, where the St. Patrick’s party is will have a new name soon.
The Couchiching people previously arranged a party for March 16 with music by Orillia’s Trad Session starting at 4 p.m.. The cover charge is $15.
Of course Brewery Bay has had an annual St. Patrick’s party on the 17th for several years and they figured two St. Patrick’s parties in the same venue was too much and not enough green dye (plus the new restaurant is closed Mondays). So, they are reopening the old restaurant for one day only March 17 for St. Patrick’s Day.
If you missed dropping in to say goodbye to the old and suddenly remembering all the things you were present for over the years (except for those Scotch Nosing folks who remember they had tickets but not much else about the event) this is it until it reopens as Seto’s later in the spring.
Music At St. Paul’s
Sunday, March 16 at 2 p.m. a special concert is happening. Opera singer Garbovskyi has a program provided by many composers as a a fundraiser for Ukrainian children. Dmytro is a Ukrainian refugee who sang with the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg Russia. That’s where he was when war broke out and things got very uncomfortable for him and his family.
He now lives in Collingwood and has done 10 fundraising concerts around the province raising $10,000 so far. He has soprano, Mary Ferrara, along to sing a duet from La Traviata and accompaniment by pianist Sabatino Vacca.
Do yourself a favour and watch his video, Give Them Hope, here. You can get tickets online.
St. Paul’s pub night is coming up March 21 with Alex (the band). Doors open at 6 p.m. and the cover is $10.
March 22 they have Fridge-A-Palooza with Terry Collins, Lake City, Kasey Kohring and Madison Mueller, and Tangents. This is a fundraiser for the Community Fridge. The show starts at 6 p.m. and fair warning, the music is going to be loud. Tickets are $10 online for the all ages show, or $15 at the door. You can also bring non-perishable items for the fridge.
Also on March 22 the Orillia Silver Band has a concert featuring pieces of music they will be performing/competing with at the North American Brass Band Championship in Fort Wayne, Indiana in April. They will also be playing Barber’s Adagio for Strings, a tune written by John Miles called Music and Malcolm Arnold’s Little Suite For Band. You can get tickets online, or at the door.
The church’s cast of characters are doing Anne of Green Gables April 3, 4, and 5 (matinees the 5th and 6th). You can get tickets at the office Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon, or you can get them online. They also have dinner before the show each night (separate ticket, email howesfamily@sympatico.ca). A preview is happening April 2 with a pay what you can admission charge.
And finally, Roots North with Friday headliner Royal Wood and Saturday headliner Jully Black is happening Apr. 25 and 26. Get tickets online.
More Music, Different Church
The Orillia Concert Association has the next of the series happening at 2 p.m., March 23 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. The show is by comedians Michael Bridge (on accordion) and Kornel Wolak (on clarinet). Yes they are doing classical music. You can get tickets by calling the Opera House box office, 705-26-8011, or by emailing orilliaconcert@gmail.com.
The Shorts
- The Orillia Big Band, which has many OCB members in it, has a dance March 29 at the legion. Milli Schop will be along to sing a few tunes and she’s worth the price of admission. You can get tickets online.
- The Old Dance Hall Players are doing improv at the Opera House March 21. The show title is Bunny Did A Bad, Bad Thing, which, as improv tradition, usually has absolutely no bearing on the content. You can get tickets here.
- Mariposa Arts Theater has A Streetcar Named Desire playing a two week run stating Apr. 3 (with Sunday matinees). At this point all I can say is Samantha Windover is playing the part of Eunice (more next week). You can get tickets online. MAT’s Film Night happens next March 19 at the Galaxy; the movie is All We Imagine As Light and showtimes are 4 and 7 p.m. You can get tickets at the door.
- OMAH is opening two exhibits to see Four Seasons in Orillia , Nathalie Bertin’s Loup Garou and Mocassins; they just opened a third, Heritage in Hues: Orillia’s Story Through Textiles in the small gallery off the foyer; it’s not what I thought it would be (textile art like Molly Farquharson does), but clothing collected, some as old as 19th century, and arranged around the room according to the colours of the rainbow; the Speakers Night is March 19 with Nathalie Bertin speaking about her exhibit Loup Garou & Mocassins and the search for identity through culture, kinship and storytelling; it happens online at 7 p.m. and you can register now online… Peter Street Fine Arts has art by Judy McLaughlin featured this month… Arts District venues, Hibernation, Peter Street, Shadowbox, DWN Chocolates and OMAH have an Art Hop happening March 22 from 1 to 4 p.m.
- Jakob Pearce and Dave Hewitt play Picnic March 16 from 2 to 4 p.m. … Quayle’s Brewery has Sean Patrick playing the early afternoon March 15 and then he’ll be joined with Michael Martyn and John MacDonald for the late shift; Michael Matryn returns for the afternoon March 16; it’s comedy night with Daniel Shaw, Ben Bayfield and Adrienne Fish March 21(two shows 5 and 8:30 p.m.); Mark Gunn is in March 22; Rebekah Hawker plays March 23.… the Hog ‘N Penny has Scott Olgard in March 15; Corey Taylor plays March 16 … the ANAF Club has Teresa and the Foundation playing March 15 and Chris Mercer March 16 at 2 p.m. … Classic Lightfoot Live is at the Opera House May 3 (tickets)
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: Amanda Rheaume and School House are in concert Saturday night at St. Paul’s Centre. (Rheaume Photo by Michael Hurcomb
