Festival Updates and News
News about Ottawa Festivals and our Member festivals, special events and fairs.
Bluesfest Essential Info
The Ottawa Citizen has listed essential information for Bluesfest which includes:
TWEET your thoughts about the festival using the hashtag #bluesfest (and follow @ottawabluesfest)
FIND our reviewers’ and videographers’ daily reviews, videos and profiles of Bluesfest performers at ottawacitizen.com/bluesfest
READ a blog by music fan Evelyn DuBerry at www.ottawacitizen.com/bluesfest
SUBMIT your Bluesfest photos by going to www.ottawacitizen.com/mypics for our daily Bluesfest photo gallery
Get the full list at OttawaCitizen.com: Bluesfest Essential Info
Top-Notch Musicians Play Ottawa Jazz Festival: Béla Fleck and Matt Andersen thrill the crowd
Susan Hallett, Epoch Times
Canada Day saw masses of people at Confederation Park in downtown Ottawa. Two boys were swimming in the fountain while three others gathered the pennies people had thrown in for good luck while I strolled past. Mobs of people were licking ice cream cones and eating rotis, sipping beer and enjoying poutine along with the all-day free jazz concerts at the 31st annual TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival.
What we heard on this perfect, star-filled night was an absolutely unique bluegrass-jazz crossover displaying what the festival brochure describes as “a special kinship between the four musicians, a bond forged over 20 years ago in a mutual passion for creativity and artistic advancement.” After playing with various artists and taking a hiatus, Fleck reconvened the original Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, that amazing initial line-up of an incredible combo.
Ottawans and fellow jazz lovers were fortunate to have the opportunity to hear these stars play. It was definitely a night to remember.
Full review on the Epoch Times website: Top-Notch Musicians Play Ottawa Jazz Festival
Volunteers help make Bluesfest sing
Urban Compass by Steve Collins | METRO Ottawa
Ottawa’s races, festivals and regular tourist attractions pack people in all summer, and when the big crowds descend, volunteers shine.
Starting tomorrow, numbers comparable to Friday’s massive Canada Day crowd (albeit spread over two weeks) will descend on LeBreton Flats for Bluesfest. Waiting for them will be a mighty complement of 3,8000 volunteers.
Bluesfest volunteers are perhaps better compensated than most, enjoying a free pass to the festival if they sign up for six four-hour shifts, but they take care of practically everything on the grounds.
Full comment as appeared in Metro: Volunteers help make Bluesfest sing
Bad weather hammers Jazzfest: Even with big pop stars this year, fewer fans attended the festival than in 2010
Peter Hum, The Ottawa Citizen
Photograph courtesy of: Bruno Schlumberger, Ottawa Citizen
Although it spent more money on music this year and gave its mainstage lineup a striking populist tweak, the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival attracted 12,000 fewer attendees in 2011 than in 2010, thwarted by too many nights of so-so, cold and even terrible weather.
The festival’s preliminary tally pegged attendance for this year’s 11-day event at 280,000 people. Its reported attendance in 2010 was 292,000. (The numbers for both years include roughly 90,000 people tallied on Confederation Park during the respective Canada Day celebrations.)
“It was just the rainy days the brought the numbers down,” said Suzan Zilahi, the festival’s communication’s director. She said that this year’s festival was nonetheless “fantastic” because of packed shows given indoors, most notably at the National Arts Centre Studio and Fourth Stage, and in the OLG tent.
Full story: Bad weather hammers Jazzfest
Westfest performers enjoy new stage
Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen
The sensuality of Taqralik Partridge’s piece Eskimo Chick, a poem of love and longing from one Inuit lesbian to another, set the stage for a celebration of alternative culture at Westfest on Friday and Saturday.
Partridge performed it early in the evening on Friday as part of Qaggiq, a showcase devoted to Inuit acts. Also on the bill that night were singers Lucie Idlout and Tanya Tagaq and the electro-fusion band Tumivut. Between them, the throatsinging was steamy, the energy was primal and the temperature of the planet shot up a few more degrees.
Despite the quirks, it’s a great site that looks like it will hold at least 10,000 fans. Approximately 3,000 attended the Inuit showcase on Friday, while Saturday’s mainstage crowd peaked around 5,000, with a big influx after the rain ended, just in time for Bif Naked.
Read full review: Westfest performers enjoy new stage
Julian Armour recognized with Canadian Music Award: Honoured for commitment to Canadian composers
Steven Mazey, Ottawa Citizen
Photo from Ottawa Festivals archive
Ottawa cellist and concert presenter Julian Armour is the winner of this year’s Friends of Canadian Music Award, presented annually by the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre to honour those “who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to Canadian composers and their music.”
The award comes with a prize of $2,000, to be presented to Armour in Toronto today at a concert by the Esprit Orchestra. The presenting organizations will hold an event in Ottawa in June to recognize Armour’s impact on the city’s music scene.
The national jury for the award included composers Andrew Mac-Donald, Laurie Radford and Ellen Waterman, who chose from musicians nominated by other composers and peers.
Read more on the Ottawa Citizen website: Julian Armour recognized with Canadian Music Award
Ottawa International Animation Festival: That’s More Than All Folks!
John Devenish, Ottawa Life Magazine
Be prepared to welcome a few thousand of the animation universe’s annual, and some new, honorary Ottawans as they descend upon the city – it’s a friendly invasion. Last year’s attendee numbers were impressive and you can bet the numbers this fall will definitely be as impressive and, no doubt, exceedingly so! The total count last year was well over 27,000 with almost 200 delegates and special guests. The screening venues will host more than 90 presentations with many special events at venues across the city. The tickets are reasonable, coming in around the average cost for a mainstream flick at your favourite mondo movie-plex. If you absolutely have to see everything (and why would you not?) you can opt for the festival’s day, weekend and full passes and a very nifty ‘ticket six pack’.
You can also catch the excitement of the festival by attending the outreach events presented by the OIAF. This year the events include: The Toon Apprentice high school lecture series; An animation celebration with free screenings for elementary classes; An animation school fair; free – yes free! – NFB workshops for families and teens; A Toon Appretice website and the Adobe Toon Apprentice Pass. Excellent draws for everyone.
Full article on Ottawa Life Magazine’s website: Ottawa International Animation Festival: That’s More Than All Folks!
Local artists look forward to Bluesfest spotlight:Ottawa’s premier festival chance for up-and-comers to shine beside stars
Eddie Rwema, YourOttawaRegion
Local folk singer Ana Miura is one of more than 200 acts expected to play at the 2011 Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest in July, and she’s looking forward to playing on one of the biggest stages in North America.
“It is an awesome opportunity for a local artist like me to be performing at this year’s Bluesfest” said Miura. “It is such a huge festival, not just in Ottawa, but in North America and to be able to mention that you played in such a festival is very important both for your resume and career.”
Spanning 13 days, from July 5 to 17 (Monday, July 10 is an off-day), the festival lineup, released on April 26, will feature artists ranging from indie-rock darlings The Flaming Lips to music legends like Peter Frampton and Bootsy Collins.
Other acts who confirmed for event, which will take place once again at the Lebreton Flats, include Soundgarden, Huey Lewis and The News, Ben Harper, Steve Miller Band, The Black Keys, Death Cab for Cutie, Erykah Badu, Jennifer Hudson, The Roots and Girl Talk.
Full story: Local artists look forward to Bluesfest spotlight
Music and Beyond Festival definitely beyond classical
STEVEN MAZEY, The Ottawa Citizen
Photo courtesy Cylla von Tiedemann, The National Ballet of Canada
The festival will offer more than 75 concerts and events, with performances from morning to as late as 11 p.m. Armour announced two other star performers last month: actor Christopher Plummer and British conductor and harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock.
In his first Ottawa theatre performance in years, Plummer will open the festival at Dominion-Chalmers Church, performing Shakespeare excerpts as part of a concert of music inspired by the playwright. The concert will include 25 musicians, playing music by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, William Walton and others. Plummer will perform from The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and other plays.
The festival will operate on a pass system, though single tickets will be available. Passes are on sale at early-bird prices of $85 general, $40 students through June 6. Passes increase to $100 and $50 after that.
Full story: Music and Beyond Festival definitely beyond classical
Tulip festival: A perfect Mother’s Day outing
Kelly Patterson, The Ottawa Citizen
It’s the ultimate Mother’s Day combo: Tulips, quilting, flower-arranging demos, sweet-voiced choirs and outdoor art. Even the glowering Ottawa skies held off from their daily deluge as hundreds of moms and their admirers turned out Sunday for the Canadian Tulip Festival.
Becky Cronin was emerging from a tent where a bizarre combination of ice carvers and flower-arrangers shared the stage before a rapt audience, in simultaneous but separate demonstrations of their crafts.
“It’s fantastic,” said Cronin, a bouquet of artfully arranged flowers over one arm. As her husband and son took off in the direction of the Lego booth, she remarked that “the ice carver had a chainsaw going, so I could get the boys to sit with me” while she watched the flower-arranging. “There’s no way they would have done that otherwise.”
Read the full article: Tulip festival: A perfect Mother’s Day outing
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