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The 48th Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts will conclude with a highlights concert on Saturday, May 7 at the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse. Admission to the event, which begins at 2 p.m., is by donation. As with previous festival performances, live video streaming will be available via the website coastfestival.com.
Among recent festival highlights were poetry readings and performances at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre on April 29. Adjudicator Luisa Jojic also led a workshop in reading Shakespearean verse that involved festival volunteers, competitors in the spoken word segment, and members of the public.
Band performances on April 27 at the Chatelech Secondary School Theatre demonstrated dynamic ensembles from Elphinstone and Chatelech high schools surging back to life after COVID-19 interrupted live performances for two years.
Elphinstone’s numbers — ranging in style from Joe Zawinal’s Birdland to the Allegro from Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 — showed the extensive sweep of their talents.
Chatelech’s infectious rendering of Latin rhythms in Paul Clark’s Dance Like No One’s Watching brought down the house with blistering solos from Jack Davis (trombone), Callum Baxter (tenor sax), Noah Ord (trumpet), and Matthew Douglas (piano, socks and sunglasses).
It’s only a paper moon
Lauded local puppeteer and filmmaker Kris Fleerackers will screen his short film, IDOL, based on the Pygmalion myth, at the Gibsons Public Library on Saturday, May 7 at 2 p.m.
After the film, he will perform a puppet “show and tell” to demonstrate how his puppets work.
Note that the film includes suggestive scenes not appropriate for young children.
The live event will also be streamed on Zoom. More information is available on the library’s website: gibsons.bc.libraries.coop.
Strike up the band... for Mother’s Day
In spite of a winter of hibernation, Tak Maeda, conductor of the Suncoast Concert Band has managed to keep the pot simmering, musically speaking.
“We are ready for the concert,” Maeda informed his players, beaming. A rousing selection of music to usher in springtime flowers and the annual celebration of Mother’s Day will occur on May 8 at St. John’s United Church at 2:30 p.m.
Band members have issued a special invitation to any other instrumentalists on the Coast: come sample their repertoire and consider joining their ranks.
Tickets (adults $20, children 12 and under $10) are available from Strait Music in Sechelt. For more information phone Val at 604 885-6756.
Time to brush up your love of cider
Banditry Cider in Gibsons is sponsoring a collective paint-by-the-numbers experience from May 13 to 15, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day. Everyone is invited to participate by decorating an unsightly shipping container on the Banditry property.
The Provisions food truck will be onsite, and live music will be performed all weekend.
Banditry Cider is located at 538 Pratt Road in Gibsons. Learn more online at banditrycider.com/events.
Musicians aim to reach Nirvana
Musician Steve Wright will be bringing together top musicians from the Coast, Vancouver and New York at the 101 Brewhouse and Distillery on Saturday, June 11 to perform the entire 1994 “MTV Nirvana unplugged in New York” album live.
The event will feature a decorated stage, lights, fulsome sound and will feature Wright (Sechelt) on guitar and vocals, Joe Deleo (Roberts Creek) on bass, Pat Haskill (Vancouver) on second guitar, Nicholas Simons (Powell River) on cello and drummer Rob Sonnenberg from New York.
“This is a great excuse to bring together some of my favourite people,” said Wright, “who also happen to be great musicians I’ve worked with over the years, to play music that we all are influenced by and to share in that joy.”
The band will be adding a few surprises to the set to extend the night and promises a memorable Sunshine Coast event. Tickets are available at the 101 Brewhouse website: the101.ca.
