Another season gets underway at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts

Now that I have a few weeks under my belt as host of a new interview show on Brock Radio CFBU-FM, I thought I would write this weekend about a couple of things coming up on next week's show that tie in with one of my favourite arts entities in Niagara, the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts at Brock University.

First of all, if you have not listened to the show yet, it is called Inquisitive Minds and airs Wednesday mornings at 11 am on CFBU-FM, 103.7.  Archived shows are available on the website, www.cfbu.ca. It is proving to be a most interesting project for me as well as challenging, as every interview brings with it a new subject I have to learn about.

Two interviews are already recorded for this coming Wednesday's show, and both deal in some way with the arts.  I spoke earlier this week with Dr. Patricia Debly, an associate professor in the Department of Music at Brock, who is heavily involved in the innovative new Music Ed Plus programme for Brock music students.  I also spoke Friday morning with British author and educator Patrice Baldwin, President of the International Drama, Theatre and Education Association, who is spending a week at Brock teaching students and giving workshops and demonstration classes both to Brock students and students in several Niagara-area schools.

Baldwin's week ends with a public lecture scheduled for this Wednesday evening at 7:30 at Pond Inlet at Brock University, titled "Neuroscience, Creativity and Learning:  Recent Research and Connections to Drama in Education and Arts-Based Learning."  It proved to be a fascinating conversation on the role drama can play in the education of young students, as well as other aspects of the arts in education. I might be able to free up some time to catch the lecture myself Wednesday evening, as it promises to be an most enlightening event.  Patrice was gracious and knowledgeable, and a pleasure to meet this past Friday morning.  The lecture is free and open to all, by the way.

The lecture by Patrice Baldwin is part of the 2013-14 Walker cultural leader series at Brock, which includes public talks by David A. Walden, long-time senior manager in the Canadian cultural sector, on the role of culture in international development; Althea Thauberger, a Vancouver-based artist who will collaborate with Visual Arts students at Brock to develop an experimental documentary video on the future move of the Walker School to downtown St. Catharines; Jill Dolan, a Professor of English and Theatre at Princeton University, who will give a masterclass in online arts criticism; and Ensemble Vivant will perform in a public performance as well as give a masterclass, both next March.

For information on all of the events coming up in the Walker cultural leader series, go to brocku.ca/finearts.

The Department of Music, meanwhile, has a full season of performances scheduled at several locations in and around St. Catharines, including of course at the Centre for the Arts at Brock University.  This evening, for example, the Avanti Chamber Singers will be presenting a concert as part of the Viva Voce! choral series, at St. Thomas Anglican Church on Ontario Street in downtown St. Catharines.  The choir will host both American and First Nations choral ensembles from New York State in a concert celebrating the two centuries of peace following the War of 1812.

Guest choirs include the Youngstown Presbyterian Choir of Youngstown, New York, and the Tuscarora Hymn Singers, a First Nations choir from Niagara County, New York, joining the Avanti Chamber Singers conducted by Harris Loewen.  They will perform separately and also together as an 80-voice massed choir.

The concert will feature both traditional and new music, featuring composers and arrangers from both sides of the Niagara River, including Niagara's own John Butler's arrangement of MacDonnell on the Heights by Stan Rogers; Peace by WNED Buffalo host Marty Wimmer; and Harris Loewen's setting of Peaceful Niagara.

You can pick up tickets at the door this evening for the concert, which begins at 7:30 pm.

Lots of other concerts are planned for the season in several series, including the ENCORE! Professional Concert Series, the aforementioned Viva Voce! choral series, the Wind Ensemble series and of course, the newly-renamed RBC Foundation Tuesday Music@Noon series of free concerts featuring faculty and student recitals at several locations on the Brock University campus.

All in all, there is something for everyone this season, both on campus and off, and all very affordably priced or even free in some cases.  All the events are listed now on the Calendar page of my website, at www.finemusic.ca, or you can go to www.brocku.ca/music to find out more.

Enjoy some great music and cultural events this season courtesy of the Department of Music at Brock!

October 5th, 2013.