Events in the Arts this weekend

I know it has been awhile since I wrote in this space and or that I apologize.  Hey, it's been a busy time and with my work involving lots of extended hours including the very early morning hours for several months now, I have not had much energy or even ambition to post regularly.  But with a week's vacation starting now, perhaps we can make a fresh start with a short entry here on a couple events happening in the arts this weekend I received information on.

I always love attending events at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts at Brock University, and their Department of Music always has a busy season of great performances to choose from.  Tonight, for example the Viva Voce! Choral Series returns with the second concert of the current season and it promises to be a great one.

The Avanti Chamber Singers, who serve as Ensemble-in-Residence for the Department of Music, are now under the direction of conductor Rachel Rensink-Hoff following the retirement of long-time conductor Harris Loewen about a year or so ago.  Rensink-Hoff is also Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Director of Music Education at Brock.

Tonight at 7:30 the choir performs at St. Thomas Anglican Church on Ontario Street in downtown St. Catharines, along with special guest artists The Walker String Quartet.  The choir always programs interesting and sometimes challenging choral music alongside what might be considered more "accessible" fare and regularly shows they are up to the musical tasks at hand.

This evening, for example, the choir will perform Ola Gjeilo's Dark Night of the Soul, Eric Whitacre's Hebrew Love Songs and Telemann's Laudate Jehovam.  But that's not all.  Also on the programme are works by Lassus, Pearsall, Hassler and contemporary composers such as Hawley, Butler, Quick and Tomlinson.  Many of these will deal with the subject of love, since Valentine's Day was just this past week.

Intrigued?  You should be.  Tickets are $20 in advance for adults, and $15 for seniors and students.  They are only $5 with the eyeGo programme.  You can purchase in advance at Thorold Music, Booksmart or even online.  If you want to pick them up at the door tonight they will be $25 for adults and $20 for seniors and students.

Also this weekend, an out-of-town concert might catch your interest as Black History Month continues for the month of February.  The Midland Cultural Centre's second feature for this special month brings the award-winning UK show "Call Mr. Robeson.  A Life, with Songs" to town for the only Ontario date on the current tour.

The show features UK actor, baritone and writer Tayo Aluko as ground-breaking actor, singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson.  The play, coming on the heels of the first Black History Month offering in Midland, "Sugar and Gold:  Stories of the Underground Railroad", explores Robeson's remarkable life achievements both onstage and off.  He was perhaps best-known, of course, as the man who sang "Ol' Man River" in Jerome Kern's landmark musical "Showboat", but perhaps he is less well-known today for his early activism as a forerunner of the civil rights movement.

The play includes the famous song, of course, along with other famous Robeson numbers as well as speeches, and a recreation of his testimony to the Senate House Un-American Activities Committee.  Yet Robeson, for all his pioneering efforts early in the 20th century, is largely overlooked today save for his musical talents.  That's a shame, really.

Aluko, born in Nigeria, now lives in the UK and holds Robeson in very high esteem.  In fact, this one-man show is not his only foray into bringing the great singer and activist to life.  He also presents a lecture/concert called "Paul Robeson - The Giant, in a Nutshell" for example.

The new show, coming to Midland's Cultural Centre tomorrow evening, was also presented at New York's Carnegie Hall back in 2012 to wide acclaim.

"Call Mr. Robeson" plays tomorrow night at 8; the doors open at 7:30.  Tickets can be ordered online or by calling 1-705-527-4420.  You should also be able to pick them up at the door as well.

So there you go:  two diverse events in two diverse parts of Ontario that might pique your musical interest this weekend.

Enjoy!

February 17th, 2018.