With tomorrow being Valentine's Day, I thought I'd offer up a trio of musical suggestions for you to romance your sweetie with something other than just flowers and chocolates this year, although either or both of them might be a great accompaniment to any of these upcoming concerts.
First up, Bravo Niagara! Festival of the Arts gets the romance going tomorrow night with A Century of Heroes: The music of Frank Sinatra, Jon Hendricks, Billy Eckstine and Nancy Wilson. Popular jazz vocalist Kurt Elling fronts an all-star band in Partridge Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines for an evening of swing classics from the Great American Songbook and beyond.
Holding a dozen Grammy nominations and eight Jazz Journalists Association Awards for "Male Singer of the Year", not to mention a fourteen-year run atop the DownBeat Critics Poll, Elling knows his way around a finely-crafted tune, much as the predecessors he salutes in the show did during their time. My personal favourite has always been Sinatra, of course, but the classic 50s Capitol recordings remain for me the pinnacle of Old Blue Eyes' craft, so no doubt several songs from that era will be on the programme.
Elling will be including several original compositions in the mix tomorrow night as well I'm told, so that will be an added bonus to keep things up to date as well as timeless.
Tickets are almost sold out for the performance tomorrow night, but you can book online at www.bravoniagara.org or call 289-868-9177. You can also stop by the PAC box office tomorrow if you're downtown to pick up your tickets in person in advance of the performance. The show begins at 8 pm, by the way.
On Saturday night you can head down the QEW to downtown Hamilton and stop by FirstOntario Concert Hall, formerly Hamilton Place, for the next concert with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Music Director Gemma New.
Entitled Scheherazade, the performance features the famous orchestral masterpiece of the same name by Rimsky-Korsakov illustrating the tale of One Thousand and One Nights. In its own way, it is a perfect accompaniment to a romantic weekend as it involves one woman dazzling her man with never-ending tales lasting, well one thousand and one nights, give or take...
The HPO's Principal Trombone David Pell shows why he is a virtuoso on the instrument when he is featured in the Trombone Concerto by Tomasi, and the full orchestra will be in full bloom as they lead off with the popular Semiramide Overture by Rossini.
The concert begins at 7:30 Saturday night. For tickets, call the box office at 905-526-7756.
Finally, the Niagara Symphony presents their third Pops! concert this weekend, both Saturday night at 7:30 and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 and will be a decidedly more popular programme this weekend. Entitled Music of the knights, the concert highlights music composed by three famous "Sirs", Andrew Lloyd Webber, Paul McCartney and Elton John and includes a number of hits from the Broadway stage as well as from many a playlist these days.
Selections will include Memory from Cats and Don't Cry for Me, Argentina from Evita by Webber, Crocodile Rock by John and Yesterday by McCartney, among others.
Tickets to any of the Niagara Symphony concerts are available by calling the FirstOntario PAC box office at 905-688-0722. Or you can visit in person while you're downtown buying the flowers and chocolates!
Now, if you decide to go for the trifecta and book all three, well, I won't say you'll be the most popular partner on the planet, but you'll be darn close. Oh, and the idea is gender-neutral too. Anyone can book for whomever they are attached to or wish to be. After all, love should be nothing if not democratic, right?
Good luck and enjoy the weekend!
February 13th, 2020.
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