Articles by author: Brock University

  • RBC Foundation Music@Noon – March 21

    RBC Foundation Music@Noon
    Our Tuesday Music@Noon series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation. This free concert series takes places most Tuesdays at noon throughout the academic year. Held in the acoustically excellent Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, our Music@Noon series provides ample opportunities for artists to display their creativity.

    Performing: Instrumental students

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    Categories: Events, RBC Foundation Music @ Noon Series

  • RBC Foundation Music@Noon – March 14

    RBC Foundation Music@Noon
    Our Tuesday Music@Noon series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation. This free concert series takes places most Tuesdays at noon throughout the academic year. Held in the acoustically excellent Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, our Music@Noon series provides ample opportunities for artists to display their creativity.

    Performing: Piano & guitar students

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    Categories: Events, RBC Foundation Music @ Noon Series

  • RBC Foundation Music@Noon – March 7

    RBC Foundation Music@Noon
    Our Tuesday Music@Noon series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation. This free concert series takes places most Tuesdays at noon throughout the academic year. Held in the acoustically excellent Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, our Music@Noon series provides ample opportunities for artists to display their creativity.

    Performing: Walker String Quartet: Vera Alekseeva and Anna Hughes, violins, Andrée Simard, viola, & Gordon Cleland, cello

    The Walker String Quartet (WSQ) is the Department of Music’s quartet in residence. The group gives prominence to the department through public performance and working with students in high school string programs to share in the joy of music and promote Brock’s music program.

    Quartet members include Music instructors Vera Alekseeva (first violin), Andrée Simard (viola), and Gordon Cleland (cello), along with second violinist Anna Hughes who hails from Guelph. All members of the WSQ are also regular players in the Niagara Symphony Orchestra.

    WSQ workshops with secondary school students over a number of weeks, developing closer ties between the schools and Brock while working together towards a public performance.

    “With this high-level ensemble we are able to bring a new energy to our performing presence in the region, on top of the vital work they are able to do in high schools with students, giving them a sampling of what Brock has to offer,” explains department chair Professor Karin Di Bella.

    “Prospective students will have the experience of having worked with their future teachers, and once they are at Brock they know they will receive the very best instruction possible.”

    In 2016 members of the quartet worked with music students from Laura Secord and Sir Winston Churchill Secondary Schools. At both schools the quartet performed a short program of standard repertoire, talked about Brock and its music programs, and distributed music parts to the students to work on in their classes. A number of weeks later, the quartet returned to the schools and held sectional workshops with the students to work on their parts.

    Finally on November 25, 2016, the high school students came downtown for a day of workshops and tours at the Marilyn I. Walker School of the Fine and Performing Arts, followed by a combined rehearsal and short public performance in Cairns Recital Hall. The gathered audience was appreciative, and the initiative forged closer ties between the two schools and the Department.

    The WSQ also held a similar event with Ridley College students, with a performance by the quartet, combined rehearsals, and a public performance.

    Concert performances are another important aspect of the quartet’s activities. In November, paired with strategic timing of the invitational workshop, the WSQ performed as part of the Department of Music’s Encore! Professional Concert Series in Partridge Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

    The WSQ was formed in 2016 through funds from the Walker Cultural Leaders Series endowment. The series brings leading performers, artists, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

    Discussions are underway to build on this success for the 2017-18 season, when the quartet will expand their activities further afield into the Hamilton/Burlington region.

    The Walker String Quartet’s performance takes place on Tuesday, March 7th from 12 noon to 12:50 pm in Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. This is a free community event!

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    Categories: Events, RBC Foundation Music @ Noon Series

  • The Avanti Chamber Singers host “Light and Dark,” a cross-border choral exchange with the Harmonia Singers of Buffalo, N.Y.

    On Saturday, February 18, 2017, the Avanti Chamber Singers will host the Harmonia Singers of Buffalo, N.Y. in a first-time joint concert for these two respected chamber choirs. The evening program features a captivating variety of choral repertoire on the theme of “Light and Dark,” including classical works as well as popular songs.

    The concert concludes with a nod to Black History Month. Robert Pacillo, conductor of the Harmonia Singers, will lead the combined choirs in Moses Hogan’s arrangement of “Walk Together Children.” Avanti’s conductor, Harris Loewen, will lead the ensembles in a premiere performance of his own “On My Way to Canada,” a new setting of abolitionist Joshua McCarter Simpson’s 19th century poem.

    This program also includes 19th century works by Brahms and Dvořák, as well as 20th century pieces by Houston Bright (Stars are with the Voyager), Canadian composer Stephen Chatman (On the Beach at Night), Lloyd Pfautsch (Stars). Rounding out the performances are choral arrangements from the Great American Songbook, including Hoagy Carmichael’s “Star Dust.”

    Harmonia Singers, founded by conductor Pacillo in 2005, is a semi-professional ensemble based in Buffalo, N.Y. They are active in presenting concerts and educational workshops in New York state, but have also made several forays across the border, previously performing in Niagara-on-the-Lake as part of Music Niagara’s concert line-up.

    The Viva Voce Choral Series, presented by the Department of Music, is a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate in building connections between the community and Brock University.

    Join us for an evening of superb music on Saturday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m., held at Covenant Christian Reformed Church, 278 Parnell, St. Catharines. Admission at the door is $25 for adults; $20 for seniors & students; $5 for the eyeGo program for high school students. A $5 discount is available for advance tickets (excluding eyeGO) and can be purchased at two St. Catharines locations: BookSmart (Scott & Vine Plaza) and Thorold Music (Glendale Avenue).

    For more information contact: Marie Balsom
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
    T: 905-688-5550, ext. 4765 | E: mbalsom@brocku.ca | W: www.brocku.ca/miwsfpa

     

     

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    Categories: Events, Media Releases, News, Viva Voce Choral Series

  • Music Ed Plus Chamber Music Ensembles

    Saturday, February 11, 2017 from 11:30am-12:30pm in the Niagara Falls Public Library

    The performance will feature a five-piece jazz ensemble, coached by Zoltan Kalman, performing jazz standards and old favorites. In addition, there will be a flute, vocal and piano ensemble who will be singing and playing a more classically-oriented program, coached by Colin Maier.

    The Music Ed Plus co-curricular program – a specialized Experience Plus program – is currently in its fourth year of operation and looks forward to showcasing the musical talents of its chamber music ensembles. These concerts are part of their mandate for community engagement in both the Brock community as well as for the general public in the Niagara Region.

    Event address:
    LaMarsh Room
    Niagara Falls Public Library
    4848 Victoria Ave
    Niagara Falls, ON
    L2E 4C5
    www.my.nflibrary.ca

    Free community event

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    Categories: Events, Music Ed Plus Chamber Music Ensembles

  • The Canadian Jazz Scene with John Sherwood

    February 10, 2017 at 7:30 pm
    Partridge Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines
    One of Canada’s top jazz pianists, Sherwood appears regularly in music festivals and clubs in Toronto, the GTA and the Niagara Region. He has performed and recorded with Peter Appleyard, Moe Koffman, Guido Basso, Rob McConnell, Ed Bickert, Jake Hanna, Kenny Wheeler, and many more.

    “…music that was beautifully constructed, brilliantly executed and of deeply lyrical quality, and he swung mightily all evening long” – The Spectator

    Video teaser: youtu.be/_kmBRCICXYk

    Tickets: $25† adults; $20† seniors/students; $10† child (14 and under); $5† eyeGo program
    †Applicable fees and taxes are extra.
    Order tickets from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca

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    Categories: Encore! Professional Concert Series, Events

  • RBC Foundation Music@Noon – February 28

    Our Tuesday Music@Noon series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation. This free concert series takes places most Tuesdays at noon throughout the academic year. Held in the acoustically excellent Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, our Music@Noon series provides ample opportunities for artists to display their creativity.

    Performing on February 28, 2017: Devon Fornelli, percussion, & Karin Di Bella, piano

     

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    Categories: Events, RBC Foundation Music @ Noon Series, Uncategorised

  • RBC Foundation Music@Noon – February 14

    RBC Foundation Music@Noon
    Our Tuesday Music@Noon series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation. This free concert series takes places most Tuesdays at noon throughout the academic year. Held in the acoustically excellent Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, our Music@Noon series provides ample opportunities for artists to display their creativity.

    Performing on February 14, 2017: Instrumental students

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    Categories: Events, RBC Foundation Music @ Noon Series

  • RBC Foundation Music@Noon – February 7

    Our Tuesday Music@Noon series is generously sponsored by the RBC Foundation. This free concert series takes places most Tuesdays at noon throughout the academic year. Held in the acoustically excellent Cairns Recital Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, our Music@Noon series provides ample opportunities for artists to display their creativity.

    Performing on February 7, 2017: Voice students

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    Categories: Events, RBC Foundation Music @ Noon Series

  • Encore! Professional Concert Series presents: Rondeau Brass Quintet with Laura Thomas, percussion

    January 20, 2017 at 7:30 pm
    Partridge Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines

    Discover the beauty and depth of brass – from the rhythms of the English Renaissance to the streets of New York City – this concert has something for everyone. Enjoy the sounds of Italy, Russia and France as well as Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Our Canadian visit features Morley Calvert’s celebrated Suite from the Monteregian Hills.

    Tickets: $25† adults; $20† seniors/students; $10† child (14 and under); $5† eyeGo program
    †Applicable fees and taxes are extra.
    Order tickets from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca

     

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    Categories: Encore! Professional Concert Series, Events