Deeply Vocal

What I want to do when I grow up a few decades from now is to be Maestro Richard Bonynge (pronounced BONNing.) Over the next few magical days at the wonderfully re-furbished (very mid-century) Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the Vancouver Opera is celebrating the launch of its 50^th season with a repeat of a Bonynge Norma, Bellini’s tender and yet commanding Bel Canto opera. The last time he conducted it here was in 1963 and it was his debut as a Bel Canto expert. It put him and his now-iconic wife, soprano Joan Sutherland, on the opera map. So he and the original cast have always had a soft spot for Vancouver audiences. They cast a London recording of the opera the next year and there was no turning back. And Vancouver Opera was launched internationally. Catch something of the history of this week’s events with this television production of “Casta Diva” with Sutherland on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ2L_B7VOWs

 Bel Canto Comeback

Celebrated author Haruki Murakami, born in 1949, is one of many artists pointing outside Japan for inspiration to exist in the modern world. Isolation is his enemy. A highly recommended surreal play drawn from Haruki Murakami’s novel "After the Quake". Adapted for the stage by Frank Galati.

Vancouver’s Pi Theatre and Rumble Productions present the Canadian premiere.

Doubtless the most celebrated (inside and outside the country) modern-day Japanese internationalist author, Murakami indulges in flowing prose that can, at times, seem very like the so-called “magic realism” in Central American fiction. He has often asserted that good writing needs rhythm and melody, like an improvised jazz song, saying that he uses a ‘free improvisation’ style of writing, where his story just comes out through some sort of special channel like automatic writing. His characters move effortlessly between the surreal and real, inspiring many an office worker to read him on long trips to and from the office every Monday through Saturday in Japan.

Count yourself lucky if you are there this weekend to hear the best of Estonian choral singing meeting the best of Canadian men’s choirs in an unforgettable evening of music.

 This weekend Vancouver has the privilege of witnessing a concert of the Revalia Male Chamber Choir with Hirvo Surva, their director.

 When the iron curtain and the Berlin wall fell we learned that the Baltic countries had been making exceptional music for an exceptional time, especially choral music. Estonia is a hot bed of incredible vocal talent. Think of the now world-famous Estonian Philharmonic Choir and their devotion to the extraordinary works of Arvo Pärt.

 Estonian musical leadership comes from creative composers, conductors, singing teachers and performers willing to leap to the challenge.

• Grand Prix & First Prize, 1st British International Male Voice Choral Festival
• Best Male Choir, 8th International Choral Competition “Tallinn 2003”
• 2003 Choir of the Year, Estonian Choral Society

 Saturday, November 21, 2009  7:30 pm Note the early hour.

Shaughnessy Heights United Church

What a difference a decade makes.

The Eastside Culture Crawl officially began in 1997 with 45 artists in 3 Strathcona area studio buildings and was attended by a few hundred people, me amongst them. 2009 is the 13th year. I highly recommended it every year.

Annual
You have heard of The Slow Food Movement, the idea that presents food as made by hand and not by machines. A chance to get away from the computer or TV screens, this is Slow Art, hence the Crawl, the general public’s annual chance to enter artists’ studios, look around in a relaxed atmosphere, even if you never thought about visual art before. You can have a conversation if you like, but there is no pressure.