Nearly 50 spectators (including the Coast Reporter) hiked into a natural amphitheater in Mount Elphinstone Provincial Park on Aug. 4 for a breathtaking performance by singer, songwriter and visual artist Jess Hart.
Hart was accompanied by the tremolo of Stephens Creek — plus her own ukulele and guitar — while perched just meters from the Oxygen Trail. Hart’s lyrics offer a bewitching mix of wry philosophy with clear-eyed caution about the perils of unfettered technology.
The audience, straddling moss-covered logs and balanced on camping chairs, was spellbound. The Music for Endangered Forests concert series is organized by the Living Forest Institute, a local non-profit seeking to preserve a neighbouring forest.
The timber block was recently sold to a logging company; the Institute believes the trees are worth more still standing as evergreen canopies protect the watershed. Another concert is planned on Aug. 18: Soundscapes for the Water the Forest Protects. Matthew Lovegrove and Andrew Bate will blend guitar instrumentals with drums and electronic loops. The music starts at 2 p.m. Hiking directions are listed at livingforestinstitute.ca; admission is by donation.
Readers reap rewards
Legendary Canadian children’s entertainer (and Sechelt resident) Charlotte Diamond is due to perform a free concert on the lawn of the Sechelt Public Library on Aug. 17, alongside her son Matt Diamond.
“This is pretty special,” Çharlotte told the Coast Reporter. The performance honours readers who joined the library’s summer reading club and completed their reading log. “I’ve sung a lot about the importance of four hugs a day,” added Diamond, “but everyone should also be reading from at least three books a day!”
Following the Diamonds’ music, the library will conduct prize draws and distribute medals and reading certificates. Cupcakes, snacks, popsicles and drinks are also on offer.
Charlotte urged attendees to wear a hat, slop on sunscreen, and prepare to sing the catchy strains of Ottie the Otter and other “24 carrot” Diamond hits.
Chamber music for midsummer
The traditional Chamber Music Weekend of the Pender Harbour Music Society will take place on Aug. 17 and 18. The performers are five internationally-acclaimed musicians, all renowned for their solo, chamber and orchestral prowess.
On Aug. 17, the lineup features Barcelona-based Kai Gleusteen (violin) and Catherine Ordronneau (piano) playing a program from composers Dvorak, Kreisler, and Gershwin.
On Aug. 18, the ensemble of Joan Blackman (violin), Zoltan Rozsnyai (cello) and Jane Hayes (piano) will present Brahms’s piano trio in B major — and a more contemporary trio by Armenian composer Arno Babajanian.
The Midsummer Chamber Music Weekend is presented in memory of — and in gratitude to — Ann Munro.
Tickets are available online at penderharbourmusic.ca/concert-tickets.
Wedding bells and summer songs
This weekend during the free Music in the Landing series in Gibsons, the waterfront gazebo hosts evening music on Aug. 9 by the Wendy Hibberd Quartet. On Saturday at Winegarden Park, guitarist-singer John Pa Rainey Thompson performs at 3:30 p.m., sharing old time swing, blues and country. That night at 6:30 p.m., the Captain Fantasy Band will sample the music of American rockers Ween with a high-energy tribute.
Before the Ween homage begins, Gibsons Mayor Silas White will officiate over the ceremonial marriage of renowned event hosts Scotty Collison and Faye Kiewitz. Captain Fantasy is Collison’s favourite Sunshine Coast band — and his first choice for post-nuptial entertainment.
In Sechelt, Wanda and the Coast Crew perform at noon on Aug. 10 in Hackett Park. Songstress Wanda Nowicki has been entertaining audiences on the Coast for over a decade, with jazzy numbers that are varied and accessible. The group includes Ken Dalgleish on piano, Boyd Norman on bass, Tim Enns on drums and guitarist Michael Toth from Vancouver.
Their playlist will also include a handful of country songs.
Wanda and her crew return the next day to headline Slow Sunday in the Creek — another free concert series taking place behind the Roberts Creek Community Library. The music starts at 11:45 a.m. with the Beachcombers Ukulele Group Singers, followed by the Slow Sundays Gospel Chorus featuring Antonia Robertson, Alison Fraser, Charlie Veaudry, Bill Barclay and Steve Schwabl. Don and Jack Jeevious perform at 1:25 p.m., followed by a very special mystery guest. Wanda and her four bandmates round out the afternoon starting at 3 p.m.
No fretting at fiddle camp
During three sunny days from July 26 to 28, the Coast was alive with the sounds of fiddles during a popular fiddle camp, according to Art Beat correspondent Atsushi Sato.
Under the expert guidance of instructors Trish Horrocks and Geoff Horrocks, the musical directors of the youth fiddle group Fiddelium in Nanaimo, and Gabriel Dubreil, the executive artistic director of Vancouver’s North Shore Celtic Ensemble, the camp drew participants from North Vancouver, Victoria, and the Yukon.
A kickoff concert was hosted by Bobby Mauel for the third consecutive year. Instruction sessions were held at the iconic Chaster House on Bonniebrook Beach.
Participants included members of the Coast String Fiddlers, who strengthened their bonds with other young musicians.
The camp concluded with a wrap-up concert where all the musicians performed together, showcasing the tunes they had perfected over the weekend including a Scottish air titled “The Captain” by Hanneke Cassel. Dubreil, inspired by the success and enthusiasm of this year’s camp, promised to return next summer to host another fiddle camp on the Coast.
New light on the past
Local history buffs will relish a series of newly-posted articles by Gavin Croteau, the summer assistant at the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives. Croteau is a graduate of Chatelech Secondary School who is studying history at the University of Victoria.
Croteau has published a survey of erstwhile local summer festivals, and taken a deep dive into the subject of artificial reefs on the Sunshine Coast (particularly the two created by the sinking of the HMCS Chaudière and HMCS Annapolis).
The museum’s blog also offers a trove of archival photographs and illustrations. Croteau’s latest research is available by browsing to sunshinecoastmuseum.ca/blog.
