Despite prodigious snowfall and perilous roads, renowned Canadian virtuosos Timothy Chooi (violin) and Jane Coop (piano) performed for a packed Raven's Cry Theatre and online viewers on Sunday, Feb. 2. The concert was presented by the Coast Recital Society, whose artistic director Denise Ball interviewed the artists before their spellbinding performance.
"We discussed the repertoire a few months back," recalled Chooi. "We agreed on some pieces that we both were comfortable with, in our repertoire and our fingers. And once we met on Saturday morning, we just went ahead [in rehearsal]."
"It certainly makes you put all your effort into listening to your partner," added Coop, "paying attention to what's happening, to try to be flexible. It just calls upon everything you have to put together a big program like this in just a few hours."
The pair opened with Camille Saint-Saëns's famous showpiece, Danse Macabre, then traversed the technical high-wire act of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. Chooi played the sparkling solo Soulmate by B.C.-educated composer Ka Nin Chan before the pair brought down the house with Prokofiev's flute-turned-violin-sonata, No. 2 in D Major. An exuberant standing ovation demanded an encore: Coop and Chooi chose the heart-rending intermezzo from the opera Thaïs by Jules Massenet.
Chooi's playing — dextrous pizzicato, full-throated bowing, and a tender touch on high notes — meshed sublimely with Coop's masterful interpretations, making every phrase revelatory.
There is one more concert in the Coast Recital's 2024-2025 lineup; details are online at coastrecitalsociety.ca.
Definitely Diva is all heart
The Definitely Diva trio of Lynne Dickson, Wendy Hibberd and Patrice Pollack has announced an upcoming concert that will benefit the Sunshine Coast Community Services Building Foundation. All proceeds will go toward the new apartment building project for vulnerable women and children.
The vocalists — now in their third decade of making music together — will be backed by a band that includes Miles Black, Christian Braathen, Boyd Norman and Reg Dickson with Peter Leitz in a supporting role as sound technician.
The concert is scheduled to take place at Chatelech Secondary School on March 14 at 7 p.m.
"People could buy tickets for their loved ones for Valentine's Day," wrote Dickson, a faithful Art Beat correspondent. "That's just a thought."
Black History Month at GPAG
An upcoming exhibition in the Eve Smart Gallery at the Gibson Public Art Gallery will feature a Pennsylvania-based scientist whose work features a patchwork of historical materials.
T. Owens Union was first drawn to visual arts while attending Parsons School of Design in New York City. She experimented with techniques including fashion illustration, drawing, colour theory, graphic design, computer assisted design, and digital layout before submitting work to juried competitions in 2020.
"My art is an exploration of African American cultural identity and experience," said Union. "I also consider how beauty is defined in society."
Her collection of digital collage and mixed media, titled Stories That Still Need to Be Told, will open at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery with an in-person talk on Friday, Feb. 14 (2 to 3 p.m.). The exhibition will debut officially with a reception on the next day, Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.
Union's appearance at the gallery is made possible through collaboration between GPAG and the Sunshine Coast Black History Month Collective, which commemorates Black culture at a variety of events across the Coast.
Free film screening
The Gibsons Public Library plans to present a 2024 documentary by the National Film Board that explores the return of a trans soul singer to public view after vanishing for 40 years.
Jackie Shane, who died in 2019, was an American singer who played a prominent part in the Toronto jazz scene of the 1960s.
With few recordings of her legendary performances, the film brings Shane to life through her own words — using never-before-heard phone conversations, rotoscope animation and a newly-released song. The diverse ingredients form part of a soundtrack that seals Shane’s place as one of the greatest soul performers of the 20th century.
In an era when voices like hers were silenced and marginalized, Shane blazed a trail from her native Nashville to the top of the charts and Toronto nightclubs.
The library hosts the screening in the Mainil room on Feb. 19, starting at 6 p.m. While the event is free, registration is required via gibsonslibrary.ca.
