Ottawa Storytellers Present – A House Divided: Stories and Songs of the American Civil War
[Source: Ottawa StoryTellers press release]
A House Divided: Stories and Songs of the American Civil War
featuring Gail Anglin, Paul Hornbeck, Daniel Kletke, & Tom Lips
NAC’s 4th STAGE, January 19, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20 from NAC Box Office or ticketmaster.ca
The American Civil War is one of the most talked about conflicts in modern history. With slavery, nationalism, and changing economics at its core, this war saw brother fighting brother. Tonight, we hear stories from both perspectives – North and South, framed with the stirring songs that were sung by soldiers and those who waited for them back home.
Performers:
Gail Anglin has a deep interest in history and relishes turning research into storytelling performance. She loves stories that illuminate the past and songs that still carry the emotions of the men and women who once sang them. She has written her own material for this show, and writes and performs local stories at the Bytown Museum and Billings Estate National Historic Site. Gail has performed in festivals and schools, and on radio and TV, offering a wide range of material from children’s shows to epics. A talented musician, Gail particularly enjoys singing the alto harmony to Tom Lips’ tenor melodies in programs such as the well-received Pete Seeger show that played in Ottawa and Toronto. In addition to being a teller, Gail directs the “Spirits of the Times” murder mysteries and the spring Chautauquas (Victorian tent shows) at the Billings Estate.
Gail’s relatives fought on the Union side in the Civil War.
NAC creates fund to aid arts nationally
The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — The National Arts Centre is once again showing its love for Peter Herrndorf. The NAC Foundation — the fundraising arm of the federal institution — has created a $1.2 million “CEO’s National Fund” to support the centre’s performing arts programs across Canada.
The fund will support tours of the NAC Orchestra across Canada, and support artists from across the country through events such as the regional “Scene” series launched by Herrndorf eight years ago.
“Spearheaded by the generous contributions of lead donors Grant Burton, Kiki Delaney, Julia E. Foster and Gail O’Brien and thanks to the major contributions of more than 85 others across Canada, the CEO’s National Fund currently stands at $1.2 million to support performing arts and education initiatives from coast to coast,” says a statement says from the NAC.
Herrndorf has been CEO and president of the NAC for more than a decade, and recently had his position extended to 2013.
Fresh Canadian Choreography: The Canada Dance Festival announces its 2011 June program
Photo courtesy of Canada Dance Festival
Brian Webb, Artistic Director of the Canada Dance Festival (CDF) today announced the June 15-18, 2011 festival program “Fresh Canadian Choreography” taking place at Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC).
The six productions that make up “Fresh Canadian Choreography” represent the very best of contemporary dance in Canada. Two works are world premieres, while three of this year’s six choreographers have recently broken out on both the national and international dance scene.
“These artists’ creative powers are soaring. They are definitely ones to watch over the next few years,” said Mr. Webb. “They have already made names for themselves in their home towns and provinces,” he continued. “They have dedicated fan bases and I just know our audiences will fall in love with them, too!”
This year’s event showcases 20 highly energetic dancers whose work offers wildly imaginative yet thought-provoking snapshots of their personal experiences and the Canadian cultural landscape. “Contemporary dance is always evolving, and at this year’s Festival you will see dance full of passion and invention,” expressed Mr. Webb. “There are definitely some surprises in store for our audiences, too, which will extend beyond the traditional concept of the dance stage.”
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra pleases at Prairie Scene
Richard Todd, Ottawa Citizen
There aren’t many classical music events in the National Arts Centre’s current Prairie Scene festival, but last night’s Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concert, at least, drew a good audience and featured a crowdpleasing program that included two major Tchaikovsky works.
But first there was a short Canadian piece, Io, by Winnipeg composer Randolph Peters. The composer describes the 11-minute piece as a “fanfare with a slow romantic theme in the middle.” It earns its name by being similar for a few measures here and there to Jupiter from Holst’s The Planets. It’s a nice curtain raiser, if not terribly memorable. It gave the orchestra a good warm-up, and was a showcase for the brass.
Full review on the Ottawa Citizen website: Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra pleases at Prairie Scene
Jeff Morton Bends Circuits And Rewires Minds
Created by Regina-based artist/performer Jeff Morton, this installation piece consists of multiple (6-12) small interactive stations for the creation of live, circuit-bent sound. Participants interact with push-buttons, sliders, dials, and other electronic controls to activate re-wired and modified toy electronic instruments. The installation is both a performable instrument and a composition written with physical objects, and is intended to communicate the impracticality of, and sometimes seemingly malicious intent of, electronic children’s toys that carry educational messages, particularly about music.
Jeff Morton will perform live in a showcase that encapsulates many of the ideas and concepts behind All The Horses and The Egg, using DIY modified instruments to produce new and unexpected musical forms.
Jeff Morton
Composer/performer Jeff Morton completed a Masters Degree in Music Composition at the University of Victoria. Jeff Morton performs as an improvising and electro-acoustic musician, and works with dancers, visual artists, and media artists across Canada and internationally. In addition to performing and composing, Jeff is a recording engineer, gallery technician, and graphic designer. He currently works out of Regina, Sk, Canada. See also www.nuthre.ca for recent activities and full CV.
Opening reception – Tuesday 26th, 6 – 9pm
Exhibition – Tuesday, April 26th 2011 – Saturday, May 7th 2011
Artengine – Arts Court, Room M70, 2 Daly Avenue, Ottawa Ontario
Gallery Hours: 12pm – 6pm, Wednesday to Sunday
Free admission
Performance – Thursday, April 28th 2011 at 9:00 PM
Club SAW – 67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa Ontario
Free admission
Presented in collaboration with the National Arts Centre’s Prairie Scene
Stars align in Ottawa for Genie Awards
CBC News
Canada’s movie industry takes the spotlight in Ottawa on Thursday for the 31st Genie Awards, the country’s annual celebration of homegrown films.
A star-studded lineup is set to walk the red carpet into the National Arts Centre for Canada’s version of the Oscars, with veteran actor William Shatner to host.
A pantheon of Canadian stars are expected to attend the Ottawa awards show, from younger faces such as Jessica Lucas and Jay Baruchel to established actors like Gordon Pinsent, Bruce Greenwood and Remy Girard.
The night will also see performances by rockers Melissa Etheridge and Karkwa, rapper Kardinal Offishall and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
The 31st annual Genie Awards air on CBC-TV Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
Full story on the CBC website: Stars align in Ottawa for Genie Awards
NAC Orchestra Week – March 7-13 – 2 Free Shows!
On Wednesday, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson will declare March 7-13, 2011 to be NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA WEEK. This marks the fifth year in a row for this high-spirited series of events highlighting the role of the NAC Orchestra and its musicians in the local community. Throughout each year, NACO musicians participate in hundreds of educational and outreach events, inspiring and entertaining tens of thousands of students and adults.
This year, for the first time, the full National Arts Centre Orchestra will give two free lunchtime concerts in Ottawa/Gatineau. As always during NAC Orchestra Week, there will also be numerous concerts by smaller ensembles of NACO musicians.
ORCHESTRA CONCERTS – free, open to the public, no tickets required
Tuesday, March 8, noon
Food Court at Place du Centre — 200 Promenade du Portage, Gatineau
Wednesday, March 9, noon
Jean Pigott Hall at Ottawa City Hall – 111 Lisgar Street, Ottawa
*Mayor Jim Watson will be on hand to host the concert.
In both concerts, Richard Lee (Resident Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra) leads the NAC Orchestra in a 30-minute program featuring Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro; Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings (2nd movement); Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto (3rd movement), featuring Ottawa native NACO Second Trumpet Steven van Gulik; and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (4th movement).
We hope to see you there!
Special thanks go to the Friends of the NAC Orchestra, without whose help and support NAC Orchestra Week would not be possible.
Beyond the Bounds: Outlaws and Vagabonds
Ottawa StoryTellers (www.ottawastorytellers.ca) presents
Beyond the Bounds: Outlaws and Vagabonds
NAC’s 4th STAGE, February 17, 7:30
Tickets: $20, $12 seniors/students, from NAC Box Office or ticketmaster.ca
From the Wild of America to the forests of Britain, outlaws have always been a subject of fascination. We condemn their crimes and sing out their virtues, we turn them over to the law and hide them in our cellars. We can’t seem to decide if they’re villains or heroes. Tonight, you can decide for yourself as we share stories and songs about the outlaws that have captured our imaginations.
BIOs (hi-res photos on website: www.ottawastorytellers.ca)
Katherine Grier has been telling stories formally since the early 1980s. She tells to younger school audiences through MASC and the Ontario Arts Council/Artists in Education program and to adults. Her show with Eleanor Crowder, Family Album: What Stories Does Your Family Tell?, focuses on stories that give families their sense of identity. Her stories tonight — one of archetypal outlaws referred to by Shakespeare, the other a Scots Traveller tale of being prey to unscrupulous individuals — hook into her interest in what takes people beyond the bounds and in the old stories that have been honed by generations of telling.
Tom Lips is a gifted singer and songwriter as well as a creative and dynamic teller of traditional and original stories. Described by Christine Lavin as “a masterful singing storyteller,” Tom writes in an eclectic mix of styles. His songs have been described as “poignant outpourings of emotion”, but his wry sense of humour is never far away. His CDs, “Made of Sky” and “Practical Man” have won many friends. Tom has been an active storyteller for two decades, with numerous performances in the “Stories from the Ages” epic series and the Fourth Stage storytelling series, as well as appearances at Ottawa museums and the storytelling festivals of Ottawa, Toronto, North Bay, and Westport. Visit Tom’s website at www.tomlips.ca.
Phil Nagy’s outlaw career began and ended in the 1960s. While riding his 80 cc motor scooter, he was mistaken for a Hell’s Angel and charged with riding without a helmet – a brand new law, and totally unfair. A couple of years later, he got a speeding ticket crossing Northern Ontario, racing to spend Christmas with his in-laws. Injustice! Some thirty-five years later, his crimes continued in the form of two novels and various stories of travel, (mis)adventure, country life and occasionally, something serious. He has told at the Ottawa Festival, the Tea Party, and the Kingsford Lake Hootenanny. This is his Fourth Stage debut.
Artists’ group wants NAC to drop Enbridge as corporate sponsor of Prairie Scene festival
Artists from Manitoba and Saskatchewan want the National Arts Centre to reconsider Enbridge’s sponsorship of an upcoming festival meant to showcase art and music from the Prairies.
Prairie Artists Against Enbridge sent an e-mail this week to the NAC protesting the company’s role as a major partner of Prairie Scene.
The festival will bring 500 artists from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, representing all disciplines, to the capital for 80 events to be held over two weeks in April and May. Since 2005, the biennial Scene events have showcased emerging and established artists from different provinces or regions.
“As Canada’s foremost showcase for the performing arts, the National Arts Centre should choose sponsors that help to promote its values as an innovator in community programming. Partnering with Enbridge tarnishes that image with the company’s disastrous environmental record,” says the letter, signed by dozens of people including Governor General’s Literary Award-winning novelist Miriam Toews, alt-rockers The Weakerthans, and Winnipeg Blue Bomber Troy Westwood.
They’re backed up by a number of NGOs, including the Indigenous Environmental Network, Sierra Club Prairie, the Rainforest Action Network, the Dogwood Initiative, Corporate Ethics International and the Polaris Institute.
The artists criticize Enbridge for its role in an oil spill last summer that saw millions of litres of oil pour out of an Enbridge pipeline into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. They also note the Calgary-based company is seeking approval of a new 1,200-kilometre pipeline that would carry crude from Edmonton to Kitimat, British Columbia, despite opposition from some First Nations and businesses along the route.
“By associating with Enbridge, the National Arts Centre associates itself with the company’s irresponsible corporate behaviour. For the sake of the centre’s good reputation and for the sake of our environment, we urge you to reconsider.”
Prairie artists get a helping hand
When Craig Lothian was asked to help raise money to bring artists from Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, he was wary at first.
The Regina resident had never been to the NAC and hadn’t heard of Prairie Scene, a festival the centre is holding this spring to celebrate artists from the two provinces. A call from Winnipeg businesswoman and philanthropist Gail Asper quickly brought Mr. Lothian on board.
“By the time Gail gets done talking to you, you end up giving money, donating your time and agreeing to be co-chair,” Mr. Lothian said from his office at Keystone Royalty Corp., which holds mineral rights across Saskatchewan.
Mr. Lothian became co-chair of the fundraising committee, along with Ms. Asper, and has raised about $900,000 from Saskatchewan donors so far. He and his wife, Pam, also kicked in $50,000 and they are organizing a group of about 20 people from the province to head to Ottawa for the event, which runs from April 26 to May 8.
Prairie Scene is the fifth in a series of festivals the NAC hosts every two years to showcase established and emerging artists from different regions. About 500 artists from both provinces will be featured, including dancers, musicians, playwrights and visual artists. “It’s a fabulous opportunity for somewhat relatively unknown Saskatchewan and Manitoba artists to get a national profile,” said Mr. Lothian. “About 98 per cent of the money in the entertainment industry in North America is probably made by 2 per cent of the people and the rest of them are struggling to do what they love to do.”
read more at www.theglobeandmail.com
