One of the city’s most innovative world music ensembles celebrates a successful first decade on November 12, by doing what it does best: creating and presenting new music by Canadian composers – music that builds bridges between ancient and modern sounds and styles, performed by some of Vancouver’s finest musicians on instruments from all over the world. It’s the grand scale of its artistic vision that has always set the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra apart, so it’s fitting that its 10th anniversary concert will feature the full 24-member ensemble with North Shore-based chamber choir Laudate Singers and Iranian-born tenor soloist Amir Haghighi: 50 musicians in total, who will perform the world premieres of major new pieces by Vancouver composers Jin Zhang, Edward Henderson and Rita Ueda as well as works by Elliot Weisgarber (in a new arrangement by Mark Armanini) and Moshe Denburg.

ORCHESTRAL EVOLUTION: Gala 10th Anniversary Concert
With special guests Laudate Singers
Saturday November 12, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Norman Rothstein Theatre (950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver)
Tickets ($28/$18) & information: www.vi-co.org

“On our 10th anniversary, we are reminded of how fortunate we are to have, here in Vancouver, not only a tremendously diverse artistic population but one that is willing to work interculturally,” said VICO co-artistic director Moshe Denburg. “This sincere globalism is what makes our city truly world class.”

This global outlook will certainly be reflected in the featured repertoire for Orchestral Evolution. Edward Henderson’s new work for intercultural orchestra and choir, Drowned Out – a folk tale, is dedicated to the peoples of the Narmada Valley, India, who continue to protest the ongoing construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam system. It promises to be a moving tribute to the millions of displaced indigenous peoples around the world.

Jin Zhang will take audiences on a journey to Yunnan (a region in southwestern China of extraordinary ethnic and cultural diversity) with his new piece, which grew out of a research trip in 2010, during which he studied the region’s intricate folk music and brought several plucked and percussion instruments back to incorporate into his work.

Also on the programme: Yamato no Haru by seminal intercultural composer Elliot Weisgarber, in a new arrangement for choir and intercultural orchestra by VICO co-artistic director Mark Armanini, the premiere of Prayer, a piece for choir and percussion by Rita Ueda, and Dreams of the Wanderer, a major work for intercultural orchestra, tenor soloist and choir by Moshe Denburg, which incorporates settings of texts in Hebrew, English, Chinese and Farsi.

Orchestral Evolution is the final event in the VICO’s fall “City Full of Sound” series, produced in partnership with the City of Vancouver as a celebration of both the VICO’s 10th anniversary and the city’s 125th. “City Full of Sound” was designed to showcase Vancouver (past and present) as a city of wonderful diversity, a place that is uniquely equipped to foster adventurous cross-cultural collaborations. Only in such a city – one built of immigrant communities who not only tolerate but celebrate each other’s differences, one that is home to a world music scene internationally renowned for its diversity, possessing a deep pool of talent and artistic innovation – could an ensemble like the VICO, Canada’s first and only professional intercultural orchestra, have grown and thrived for ten years and counting.

“City Full of Sound” is presented by the VICO with support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program.

**A slight variation on this text was also published as the cover article in the October 2011 edition of Playboard Magazine.

Footlight Theatre Company presents
THE WIZARD OF OZ
November 4-19, 2011
Michael J. Fox Theatre, Burnaby
Evening shows Nov. 4(preview), 5 (opening), 11,12, 17,18,19 at 7:30 pm
Matinees Nov. 6, 11, 13, 19 at 2:00 pm
Tickets ($20 – $43) at www.ticketstonight.ca

This November, the team that brought you last year’s smash hit The Sound of Music takes on another family classic. Footlight Theatre Company is proud to present The Wizard of Oz, a musical adaptation of the beloved 1939 film starring Judy Garland. Footlight’s production features a large and talented cast of 70+ adults, teens and kids, including professional and amateur performers from Vancouver, North and West Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Delta, Langley, Surrey and White Rock.

The pivotal role of Dorothy Gale is traditionally played by a young adult, but 12-year-old Michelle Creber is more than up to the challenge. She’s a triple threat with some hefty stage, film and TV credits already under her belt, including rave reviews for her performance as Annie at both Theatre Under the Stars (2009) and Gateway Theatre (2010). Kimberley Page, a veteran of starring roles at TUTS, Gateway and RCMT, brings to life Dorothy’s nemesis, the nasty Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West.  Footlight welcomes back Bree Greig (Maria in The Sound of Music and the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) as Glinda the Good Witch. Dorothy’s quirky sidekicks will be played by Benjamin Wardle (Scarecrow), Theo Marx (Tinman) and Chris Adams (Cowardly Lion).  These talented performers share the stage with a colourful chorus of Munchkins, Ozians and exotic Flying Monkeys (yes, they really will fly!).

Director/choreographer Lalainia Lindbjerg Strelau, musical director Michael Creber, and a team of award-winning designers (sets by Marshall McMahen, costumes by Christina Sinosich and lighting by Michael Schaldemose) are guaranteed to put a fresh and exciting spin on the familiar story. Footlight’s production of The Wizard of Oz promises to be its biggest yet, and a fitting celebration of the company’s 45th season. www.footlight.ca

Promotional Images by Paul H. Wright & Production Stills by Jillian Chateauneuf:

VICO with ORCHESTRA ARMONIA

In the second event of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra’s “City Full of Sound” series, VICO musicians Yun Song (erhu), Charlie Lui (dizi), Yu-Chen Wang (zheng), Lan Tung (erhu) and Jonathan Bernard (percussion) will join acclaimed string ensemble Orchestra Armonia for an innovative evening of classical music with an intercultural slant. The programme will include pieces by Vancouver composers Mark Armanini, Jung Sen Tung, Dorothy Chang and Lan Tung.

“Vancouver’s 125th birthday is the perfect moment to celebrate our city’s multifaceted Asian heritage with a collaboration between the VICO and Orchestra Armonia,” says conductor John van Deursen. This joint concert is designed to build bridges: between ancient and modern sounds and styles…between the classical musical traditions of Europe and China… between two very different ensembles that share an affinity for Asian music and a propensity for taking artistic risks.

Erhu virtuoso Yun Song, a first place winner in China’s national erhu competition in 1983, will join the 13-member Orchestra Armonia for Night Bird Singing, a concerto for erhu and strings by Vancouver composer and VICO co-Artistic Director Mark Armanini.  Armanini has been working with Song to develop a new approach to the erhu, pushing at the boundaries of traditional styles and techniques and expanding the possibilities of the instrument.

The dizi (Chinese bamboo flute), played by Charlie Lui, will be the featured instrument in Spring Awakening at Mount Yangming by Vancouver-based Taiwanese composer Jung Sen Tung. Originally composed in the 1960s, the piece became famous when it was used as the theme of a popular daily TV show in Taiwan. Conductor John van Deursen was given special permission to orchestrate an accompaniment for string orchestra.

Lan Tung (erhu), Yu-Chen Wang (zheng) and Jonathan Bernard (percussion), well known in world music circles as Orchid Ensemble, will perform From a Dream by Dorothy Chang. Rounding out the programme are two works for string orchestra, Memories of HengChun by Bao Yuan Kai (China) and Fuga  by Fou Tong Huang (Taiwan). Finally, all five VICO musicians and Orchestra Armonia will join forces on Ba Ban Variations by Lan Tung, an original work written for improvising musicians. Inspired by Ba Ban or Eight Phrases, the root of hundreds of pieces in traditional Chinese repertoire, the piece explores the contrasts between tonalities and genres. It embodies the paradox of many opposite characters: chromatic and pentatonic passages, composed and improvised materials, contemporary and traditional forms…and as such, is a fitting showcase for the ground-breaking collaboration of Classical Meets Intercultural.

1 artistic director, 1 production/stage manager, 2 stage directors, 2 choreographers, 2 stagecraft teachers (doubling as set designer and lighting tech respectively), 1 junior program coordinator, 6 volunteer student leaders…

3 preliminary audition sessions, 2 days of callbacks/casting, 8 rehearsal days, 1 weekend day of costume fittings…

Countless hours of prep, script adaption, budget wrangling, costume sorting and track editing…

…1 successful summer show!

This official blurb doesn’t really come close to describing the intense hard work and sheer fun of putting on a full-length musical in two weeks. We were thrilled with how the show turned out, though, and very proud of all the kids who threw themselves into the project with gusto, and grew by leaps and bounds in such a short time.

Broadway Edge Performing Arts Studio presents

Walt Disney’s Beauty & the Beast, The Musical

June 18 (2 pm and 8 pm) and 19 (1 pm and 7 pm), 2011

Surrey Arts Centre Studio Theatre

Tickets $18/$11.50 at http://tickets.surrey.ca

Directed & choreographed by Diana Kaarina

Musical Direction by Richard Coombes

Stage Management by Melanie Thompson

Music by Alan Menken

Book by Linda Woolverton

Lyrics by Howard Ashman & Tim Rice

Cyberlife: the Musical

Written by Danny Balkwill, Dean Balkwill & Craig Salkeld

April 6, 7, 8 and 9 at 7:00pm

Linda Hamer Theatre, Mulgrave School

2330 Cypress Lane, West Vancouver (Exit 8 off Hwy 1)

This week, Mulgrave School is putting on a show like you’ve never seen before…literally.  A cast and crew of more than 60 students are presenting the world premiere of a brand new original musical. With a colourful cast of characters and a dynamic pop/rock soundtrack, Cyberlife: The Musical puts a 21^st century spin on a classic teen movie premise: high school life is ruled by cliques, with the cool kids and jocks lording it over the geeks and loners, but behind the stereotypes, everyone just wants to have friends and fit in. Enter Cyberlife: an online role-playing game, in which anyone can create an avatar and become whoever they want. A nerdy music geek remakes himself as a singer-songwriter with a crowd of adoring fans; a popular girl, secretly confused and insecure, transforms into a smart, fast-talking 1920s bombshell à la Marlene Dietrich; and a lonely rich kid becomes a heavy metal rock star. In the anonymous world of Cyberlife, it’s okay for such a motley crew to become friends…but then a trouble-making hacker arrives on the scene. Suddenly their fantasy world is no longer the secret, safe place they thought it was, and things start to get complicated in real life. As the story unfolds, the characters discover the trials and tribulations of cliques, online communities and true friends.

Tickets for the performances (this Wednesday April 6 through Saturday April 9) are available for purchase during regular school hours, Monday to Friday 8:00am to 4:00pm. Contact Jessica May at 604-913-6050 or in person at the front office for sales. Tickets will also be sold at the door before each performance.

• Tier 1 ($40): Premier assigned seating in the centre orchestra section and the first row of centre balcony.
• Tier 2 ($20): Assigned seating in the orchestra and balcony.
• Tier 3 ($10): Festival seating at the back of the orchestra.

The Story Behind the Show:

Cyberlife is an original commission with a twist: many of the students who are participating as cast and crew have been involved from the very beginning of the creation process. This past fall, before a single note or line of dialogue had been written, the creative team – composed of Danny Balkwill, Dean Balkwill and Craig Salkeld (professional performers, writers and musicians whose credits include Mirvish Theatres’ The Lion King and We Will Rock You, national tours of Tommy and Mamma Mia, and the Broadway production of Rent) – ran a workshop at the school, during which musical theatre students bounced ideas around, discussing themes and characters and possible storylines. The writers took those ideas away and turned them into Cyberlife, a musical uniquely tailored to the interests and talents of the students who will perform it. Visit www.mulgrave.com for more background, photos and video clips from rehearsals.

CHRISTMAS ON THE AIR
By Lucia Frangione
Pacific Theatre
December 10, 2010 – Jan 1, 2011

Journey back to the days when radio was king, as Yolanda and Percival B. Frank present their annual Christmas radio broadcast before a live studio audience. I am having so much fun stage managing this show, which is directed by Shel Piercy, and features Damon Calderwood, Lalainia Lindbjerg Strelau, Ben Elliott, Seana-Lee Wood and Diana Kaarina. The premise is that the five cast members are doing a live radio broadcast from a church basement on Christmas Eve in 1949. It’s set in Vancouver, so there are tons of fun local historical references. It’s Christmas-y without being too sickly sweet…there are stories (with old fashioned sound effects created by the actors on stage) and lots of lovely Christmas music…and, of course, plenty of behind-the-scenes shenanigans. Rumour has it that the stage manager even has a few lines… (eep!).

Footlight Theatre – The Sound of Music (Nov. 6-20, Michael J. Fox Theatre): directed by Lalainia Lindbjerg Strelau, with musical direction by Monique & Michael Creber, set design by Marshall McMahen, costumes by Christina Sinosich and lighting by Des Renard. This was probably the biggest thing I’ve done so far as a stage manager, with a cast of 50 (ranging in age from 5 to mid-60s), a crew of 12 who literally moved mountains, a live 6-piece band and so much more. I am so proud of how beautifully it turned out, and so thrilled that we got to play to full houses and standing ovations at all twelve shows. www.footlight.ca

Writing:

Grants, grants and more grants: the fall is always busy on this front, with application deadlines for the Canada Council, City of Vancouver, BC Arts Council, SOCAN Foundation, Hamber Foundation and more.

Administration:

Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra: in addition to all the usual grant applications, there was a major concert (Rising Beats on the Infinite Horizon, Nov. 28 at the Historic Theatre at the Cultch), the long-awaited release of the orchestra’s first recording, and two Music of the Whole World presentations at the Vancouver Public Library. www.vi-co.org

Publicity:

Bluebird North (Nov. 16, 7:30 pm at the Roundhouse): songwriters’ showcase featuring Adam Baillie, Gerry Barnum, Rose Ranger and Kim Wempe, produced and hosted by Shari Ulrich for the Songwriters Association of Canada. www.songwriters.ca

Rising Beats on the Infinite Horizon

November 28, 2010 at 8 pm
The Historic Theatre at The Cultch
1895 Venables St., Vancouver
 
Tickets: $25 general / $15 students, seniors, VICO members, groups of 10+
Box Office: 604-251-1363 or online at tickets.thecultch.com 
General info: 604-224-6201 or info@vi-co.org

Rhythm: it’s the heartbeat of music the world over, a powerful means of connection between different cultures and traditions. The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra explores this nexus and its vast musical potential, in the major concert event of its 2010-2011 season. Rising Beats on the Infinite Horizon features the 22-member VICO with special guest percussionists Curtis Andrews, Jonathan Bernard, Joseph “Pepe” Danza, Daniel Tones, Niel Golden, Jason Overy and Boris Sichon, and New York City-based oud player Baruch al-’Ajam. The programme includes three world premieres by acclaimed BC composers: Gypsy Chronicles, commissioned from John Oliver with funding from the Canada Council, Earthy Airs by Moshe Denburg, and I Dream of Fountains (in a new arrangement for intercultural orchestra) by Joseph “Pepe” Danza. Also on the bill is Kusumamaya, a tabla concerto by Niel Golden.

This is fusion music on a grand scale, performed by some of Vancouver’s finest musicians on tar, dizi, xiao, zheng, sanxian, erhu, santur, kamanche, oud, bansuri, tabla, darabuka, mrdangam, congas, frame drums, marimba, vibraphone, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and bass, with additional Latin, Middle Eastern and African percussion. Audiences at Rising Beats on the Infinite Horizon will not only hear this extraordinary instrumental combination making exciting new music; in the intimate ambience of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre’s Hhistoric tTheatre at the Cultch they’ll also be able to watch it happen, up close and personal, via a live video feed that will project footage of the musicians and their instruments onto a large screen over the stage.. The programme will combine and contrast modern and traditional, written and improvised repertoire, showcasing the talents of Canadian composers and musicians as well as the musical cultures of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

******
The VICO, founded in 2000, was one of the first concert orchestras in the world devoted specifically to performing new intercultural music on a grand scale. It is currently the only such professional orchestra in Canada. In the VICO, Western-trained orchestral musicians rub shoulders with performers in musical traditions from all over the world…shedding light on the musical traditions of Canada’s many cultures and the myriad bridges between them. For more information on the ensemble and its upcoming events, please visit www.vi-co.org.

Media contact: Ellie O’Day, 604-731-3339 or ellie@oday.org 

Production Coordination / Stage Management

Footlight Theatre – Auditions & Call-backs  for The Sound of Music (June 11-13 , 18-20 at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts): I’m stage managing this show; it’ll be directed and choreographed by Lalaina Lindbjerg-Strelau with musical direction by Monique Creber. Rehearsals start in late August, and we open at Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby on Nov.  6 (till Nov. 20). www.footlight.ca

Summer Musical Theatre at Mulgrave (July 19-30): 2-week program in which participants (grades K to 10) mount a full-length musical from the ground up, culminating in a spectacular live performance. Info and registration form here: www.mulgrave.com/summermusicaltheatre.asp

Publicity:

Bluebird North (June 8, 7:30 pm at the Roundhouse): songwriters’ showcase featuring Todd Butler, Melissa Endean, Adrienne Pierce and Adam Woodall, produced and hosted by Shari Ulrich for the Songwriters Association of Canada. www.songwriters.ca

Administration:

Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra: ‘Tis the season of grant reports…and of waiting anxiously by the mailbox to find out if next season’s funding will come through. Fingers and toes crossed! www.vi-co.org

Miscellaneous Productions: I am coordinating a music licensing project wherein MPS is registering all the cool tunes it has commissioned for its shows over the years with the Canadian Composers’ Agency, so that eventually they can be marketed and distributed in all kinds of different ways. Lots of corresponding with composers, getting contracts signed, filling out forms etc…should be fun! www.miscellaneous-inc.org