This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
Friday, October 24th’s Orillia Youth Centre fundraising concert at Creative Nomad Studios with Ronnie Douglas, Angie Nussey and Roger Harvey has a new start time, thanks to the Blue Jays.
The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and the concert will start at 6 p.m. That means the show should be over by about 8:30. The game starts at 8, so only an inning or two will be missed.
Bonnie Milne was also to have performed, but she is ill.
The concert Saturday with Roger and Alex Kay Black at Paper Planes Play Café also has it’s start time moved up to 5:30 p.m.
Orillia Concert Band And Cellars
The Orillia Concert Band’s first of their concert season is October 25 at St. Paul’s. This is a fundraiser for The Mariposa House Hospice and they will be joined by the Orillia Big Band.
The OCB will play the first half including a medley of tunes by Chicago. The big band, with vocalist Milli Schop, does the second half and they’ll do Take Five, Basie’s Queen Bee, At Last, and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. You can get tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert online.
The Cellar Singers Sunday afternoon concert (3 p.m.) at St. James Anglican Church concert is built around two pieces by Mozart – Requiem and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore (Solemn Vespers for a Confessor).
Soloists are soprano Amy Dodington, mezzo-soprano Lynn Featherstone tenor Andrew Wolf and baritone Paul Winkelmans. Ernesto De Luca will be making his first appearance as the Cellar’s accompanist. You can get tickets for this and their next concerts online.
The Envelope Please
The nominee list for the successor to the ORAH Awards, the North Simcoe Art and Culture Awards is out. There are 27 nominees for awards in 5 categories. They are:
Youth Voice Award – Lucy Goodman and Kamdyn Caputo.
Equity and Inclusion Award – Champagne Top’Her, Call to Action #83 Art Project; Aaron Sheedy for the film Scapegoat, Amy-Rae Miller, Alasoba Kelsy-Braide, and Kate Hilliard.
Creative Experience Award – Lightfoot Days Festival, Gordon Lightfoot Exhibit at Orillia Museum of Art and History, Starry Night, Orillia Scottish Festival, and Indigenous Art & Culture Awareness Week.
Community Impact Award – Whitney Newton, Sabrina Dodgson-Sturrup, Lesley Truemner, Jessica Allen, Sukhi Kaur, Carolyn Boyd, Streets Alive Artists, and Peter Fyfe and John Notten.
Qennefer Browne Achievement Award – John French, Xavier Fernandes, Dave Walker, Lucia McGarvey, Jan Novak, and Vangi Patton.
Congratulations to all. The awarding happens November 26 at 6 p.m. at Creative Nomad Studios. It’s free to attend. Go ahead, pack the place.
Reviews
Last weekend was a fantastic start to concert season with the Orillia Jazz Festival happening and the Silver Band playing on Sunday.
Friday night’s jazz fest event was moved indoors because it looked like rain. Wide Arches, a band with two singers, Jacob Gorzhaltsan and Kalyna Rakel, along with bass and guitar – but no drums – started out much as I expected based on the few tunes I sampled online. They were kind of folky. Then Gorzhaltsan pulled out a clarinet and proceeded to use it for jazz most of the rest of the set playing some great intros and solos. When someone plays the clarinet that well, I forget I have a long list of clarinetist jokes to rival anyone’s drummer joke list.
They then had a dance on Gord’s stage. This seemed to me to be a strange offering for a jazz festival, unless you are bringing in a big band and playing old big band charts from the 30s and 40s which were written to dance to, instead of the music being provided by a DJ (Accomplice). He did spin (clicked really, from a computer) some pretty good tunes. Several people dressed up for the speakeasy. There were prizes, but I don’t dance and made my exit shuffle before that happened.
Saturday the Oscar Peterson Centennial Quartet (Robi Botos on piano, Mike Downs on bass, Jim Doxas on drums and music director, and Ulf Wakenius on guitar) concert was outstanding. It was mesmerizing. To be able to hear Oscar’s music live is life affirming in a way, to hear such beautiful music played so beautifully. Add Ulf’s incredible guitar playing put this thing over the top.
There were two special treats. Celine Peterson was to have been the emcee and telling stories, but she didn’t make it. Instead Kelly Peterson, Oscar’s wife, filled in. Midway through the concert she sat down with Lance Anderson at center stage and had a conversation, telling stories about Oscar.
The other was an appearance by Sean Nimmons. He is the grandson of Phil Nimmons and is accomplished enough as a pianist to have played a couple of Oscar’s tunes, and to duet on piano with Robi for the encore.
The concert run list ended with Hymn to Freedom, which when I see it on a menu I think, again? That lasts about 4 bars worth of music when I realize this song is such a heartfelt piece of music I defy anyone to dislike, or get tired of it.
Sunday the Orillia Concert Band put another one out of the park. I did not know many of the pieces they chose to play, but this is their strength, aside from excellent musicianship – picking good tunes. Their opener, Hjalar Ljod, by Norwegian composer Eivind Groven was the kind of tune I would place second on the menu after the band warmed up on something easier to play. I previously mentioned Neil Barlow, the OSB conductor, likes to get the hard work out of the way right away.
They played a piece by James Curnow, Concertpiece for Cornet, which has a cornet solo, played by Jonas Feldman. As a concerto, we’re not talking about a solo somewhere in the middle of the tune, the soloing starts almost immediately and continues to the end. Feldman did some great work in it.
Holst’s Moorside Suite finished out the first half. While the audience was enthusiastic about the music and playing to that point, they really perked up a bit when the band got to the third section of the suite, the March, which is familiar, even to those who go – Moorside What?
The second half was mostly one piece of music, Peter Graham’s, Windows of the World. It comes in six parts and the first, Amazonia, the band has played before. In fact they recorded it on their Mariposa Sketches CD. The rest of the chart is packed full of music indicative of destinations around the world, ending with a Benny Goodman kind of finale like Sing, Sing, Sing. The percussion section is integral and prominent in each of the 6 parts. Their next concert is at Christmas and there will be more on that later.
Wednesday evening the Orillia Youth Centre was the venue for another fundraising concert. Roger Harvey opened and his music is introspective. He has a new album, Progress, and he sang some tunes from it and of the ones he did do, he said we were the first to hear them live. Roger mentioned he’s been doing shows here for the youth center for 5 years now, and every time he gets to the song Blue Mountain, I feel good.
Danny Michel was next. He has some new music as well, but he also did a lot of old favourites. He does a lot of picking on his guitar to support the lyrics (Roger is more of a strumming type of guitar player) and he can work a comedic moment in with his words, or his guitar. He’s also a pretty funny story teller.
At one point someone’s phone (Siri) woke up and blurted out, “I don’t understand” just after Danny said something funny. Danny pulled out his phone and asked “How do you tell someone to turn off their phone during a concert?” and then held his phone up to the microphone for us to hear the response. It was a lame response, which made the moment even funnier. When the concert was over I asked those sitting next o me if they remembered what Danny had said to get the phone to interrupt the show and they couldn’t remember. I couldn’t remember, and neither could Danny when I asked him about it.
Danny also told a story about writing Samantha In The Sky With Diamonds, a song about astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. He said he played the rough version he recorded when he wrote it for Chris Hadfiled, who ask Danny to send it to him. Of course Danny didn’t want it going any further, but Hadfield said he’d sent it on already – to the International Space Station. They of course played it on one of their broadcasts – to the whole universe.
Danny said he was a little upset and embarrassed because it was not a finished recording, until he realized someone was playing his music from space.
Both Roger and Danny are exceptional songwriters and we have been very lucky to have them perform here so often.
The Shorts
- Downtown Orillia has the Monster March Costume Parade Oct. 25 starting at 11 a.m. from the parking lot opposite Seto’s.
- St. Paul’s Centre has a few things happening. They have a screening of the documentary 1948: Creation and Catastrophe, Nov. 1 with opening remarks by Dr. Monica Mitri Chaudhuri about her medical assistance experience in Gaza; admission is a $20 donation, which will go to aid in Gaza.; they have Choir Revolution happening Oct. 24 at 5:30 p.m., admission s $20; and Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. enjoy Yamasaki ~ Alive Again, a program of music by the Suzuki students and teachers, the Nagata Shachu Taiko Drums, Ross Arnold, Autumn Debassige and Blair Bailey Oct. 26 at 4 p.m.; it’s presented by the Japanese Canadian Legacy Foundation and admission is free.
- Harriet Todd, Stephen Graham and Dick Johnston are being inducted into the Orillia Hall of Fame Oct. 30 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. It is open to everyone to attend.
- The City is taking submissions for new displays of art at the Orillia Recreation Centre. There are two exhibits. One is the Stack Gallery (next to the check in counter) and the focus is art made by those in the ‘all abilities’ community. That’s the new term for those who have disabilities and submissions from the disabled are what is being sought. The other is for a change up of art in the Indigenous display and the work considered is obviously from Indigenous artists. You can find more details and how to submit by Oct. 31 online.
- MAT’s Film Night at the Galaxy has Meet the Barbarians playing at 4 and 7 p.m. at the Galaxy Nov. 12; Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight plays Dec. 3. I hope you have tickets lined up for MAT’s Jesus Christ Superstar which opens at the Opera House Nov. 6 There are so many good tunes in this musical and wait until you hear Maggi Robertson, who plays Mary, sing .
- Mariposa Folk Fest 2026 tickets, at 2025 prices, are on sale; you can also get tickets for their Nov. 29 concert with Aysanabee and JD Crosstown at St. Paul’s Centre online.
- Makers Circle is now open in the former Hibernation Arts storefront on Peters Street. I was in and the walls are already full with new art by artists new to me. There’s some interesting stuff by Lexi Dance-Cassidy, MJ Page, and Claire Lalonde.
- Derick Lehmann has a 90s Dance Party on the Nov. 15 at ODAS Park and you can get tickets here.
- 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.
- At OMAH has a grand opening/reception for two exhibits Saturday Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. The exhibits are the annual Carmichael show, Tradition Transformed, and John Gould: Travels Of The Mind And Body. Also see the permanent exhibit of items from Gordon Lightfoot’s estate, Gordon Lightfoot: Turning Back The Pages, in the small gallery on the main floor; and Tracing Places: Advertising In Orillia; get 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… Peter Street Fine Arts guest artist is Rick Barrett… Cloud Gallery has a new artist on their roster, Holly Ann Friesen, and she’ll be visiting the gallery Nov. 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- The Orillia Concert Association has season tickets on sale now (still only $90) and their lineup is: the Elora Singers Nov. 8, Terry Lim And Friends Feb. 22, Daniel Vnukowski March 22 and The Brooks, Ronai, Teske Trio May 3. All concerts are at 2:30 p.m. You can get the season tickets online.
- Quayle’s Brewery has Gen Cyr playing the early set and Kyle Wauchope the late set Oct. 25; Jojo is in Oct. 26; Rebekah Hawker plays Oct. 30; and Chris Lemay plays Oct. 31 … the Hog ‘N Penny has Jakob Pearce playing Oct. 24; the House Band (Michael Martyn, John McDonald, Sean Patrick) playing Oct. 25 are in Oct. 18; and they have an afternoon jam session every Sunday with Sean Patrick and others… Meredith Warboys is at Picnic Oct. 26 and Michael Martyn plays Oct. 30… the Griddle Pickers do brunch at the Common Stove Nov. 2… the ANAF Club has a Halloween dance Oct. 31 with Mil and the Thrills; the Mr. Mad Band is in Oct. 25; Outcast is in Nov. 1… the legion has a Halloween dance with the Renaissance Band Oct. 25, get tickets at the bar… Brewery Bay Food Company has the Big Bad Jug Band and Terry Savage and the Wonky Zombie playing a Halloween gig Nov. 1 (don’t miss this, tickets); they also have a drag show, the Rocky Horror Picture Show Shadowcast Oct. 29 (tickets)
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: The Orillia Concert Band
