News and notes on the Arts in Niagara

Catching up on some news and notes this week on the arts in Niagara after taking some vacation time this month, but before I do that, a big thank you to everyone who came out this morning for the annual Rankin Cancer Run/Walk in the north end.  I was part of Team Bensson, walking for our own Iron Mike Bensson of 97.7 HTZ-FM, who hosted the ceremonies onstage this morning.

Mike had a serious bout with cancer himself earlier this year and is now back in the saddle at HTZ-FM, but all of us at the station wanted to show our support this year by participating in the 1K walk, each of us donning red Team Bensson t-shirts.  We did our part, as did hundreds of others running or walking for someone who can't; the size of the crowd and participants was simply breathtaking, and congratulations to all who organized the event.  It all went off without a hitch and looks like everyone had a great time.  Thanks to all!

Now, the Niagara Symphony wraps up their current season Sunday afternoon at 2:30 at the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre at the Centre for the Arts, Brock University, with the final Masterworks concert of the season.  This will be the inaugural concert in the multi-year Beethoven Project, featuring Buffalo Philharmonic concertmaster Michael Ludwig as special guest artist in a performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto.  Mr. Ludwig and the rest of the BPO just returned from a triumphant visit to New York's Carnegie Hall, with JoAnn Falletta conducting.  The reviews I've seen have been quite favourable, so congrats to the orchestra from the Queen City for doing us all proud earlier this month.

Also on the concert this weekend will be the Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, known as "Eroica".  This is the one Beethoven originally planned to dedicate to Napoleon Bonaparte but eventually thought better of it, and history suggests he probably made the right decision on that one.

Maestro Bradley Thachuk leads the orchestra this weekend, and once again to conclude the season your humble scribe will be in the lobby before, after and at intermission with a wealth of great music for sale, including a couple of great Naxos recordings featuring the self-same Michael Ludwig.  Hope to see you there, so if you don't have tickets yet, contact the Brock box office at 905-688-5550, ext. 3257 or pick them up at the door.

By the way, late last month the NSO announced the lineup for their 66th season, set to get underway September 29th with the first Masterworks concert of the 2013-14 season.  The 12-concert programme includes everything from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade to the Schubert Symphony No. 9 to Matt Dusk and a musical tribute to James Bond.  Soloists will include Peter Longworth, Lauren Segal, Christopher Newton and Sultans of String, in addition to crooner Matt Dusk.  Looks like an ambitious season, and new subscribers can begin buying their tickets to the new season starting this Monday, May  27th.  For more information on the complete season, go to www.thenso.ca, or check out the calendar page on my website at www.finemusic.ca.

Also this month we have had a good deal of information pertaining to the new Performing Arts Centre set to go up on that empty lot at the corner of St. Paul and Carlisle in downtown St. Catharines.  You might recall plans were derailed last year when all the bids on the project came in well over-budget with the original design.  So back to the drawing-board went the bean-counters and the design team from Diamond Schmitt Architects to come up with a more affordable design.  As reported in this space back in March when the new design was unveiled, not that much appeared to have changed to the casual observer, which was obviously the plan.  Actually, most people thought the redesign actually looked better than the original in some respects, so thanks to the team from Diamond Schmitt for pulling the proverbial rabbit out of the hat on this one.

Last week, the bids submitted were opened at City Hall and a collective sigh of relief went up as all the bids came in well under budget this time.  The lowest bidder, Bird Construction, came in at $36.85 million, and a staff report to be discussed by city council Monday evening will recommend Bird be awarded the construction contract.  This means there is some wiggle room to add-in some extras that were taken out with the redesign, in many cases less-costly materials in order to cut the overall price tag of the project.

According to my esteemed colleague at The St. Catharines Standard, columnist Doug Herod, some of the added-in extras we might be able to afford now are better exterior lighting and signage, concession upgrades, better theatrical and visual equipment and so on.  Overall, not big things per se, but together making for a much better theatrical experience, particularly in the largest venue, Partridge Hall, where the Niagara Symphony will perform.

So I would assume at this point everything is a go, with work expected to begin shortly after the contract is awarded this week.  Let's keep our fingers crossed and keep an eye on the city's webcam to watch the progress on the City of St. Catharines website.

All of this pales in comparison with the other much-talked about Diamond Schmitt project that opened to the public earlier this month, the new Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Mariinsky 11, as it is called, opened to much public fanfare and acclaim with a lavish three-day music festival from May 2nd to 4th, including performances by such musical luminaries Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, Mikhail Petrenko and many others, assembled by Mariinsky Artistic and General Director Valery Gergiev.

I've seen pictures of the new design and it is both huge and impressive:  851,850 square feet that fills an entire city block and consists of a masonry base of Jura limestone, large structural glass bay windows and a gently curved metal roof with a glass canopy to give as they put it, "a contemporary expression rooted in St. Petersburg's architectural heritage."  How would you like that in our downtown, eh?  Actually, I have heard some grumblings from some who feel the huge new complex is out of synch with the rest of the area, but really, how can it not be?  The adjacent original Mariinsky Theatre dates from 1860, so things have changed more than a little since then.  The original theatre will still remain in operation, by the way.

So, our Performing Arts Centre might not hold a candle to the new Mariinsky 11, but consider this:  isn't it nice to know the same design firm designing that amazing complex is hard at work designing ours, too?  Bring it on!

May 25th, 2013.