March 2023 – An evening with Sarah Slean and the Kamloops Symphony

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AN EVENING WITH SARAH SLEAN
Friday, March 10 and Saturday March 11, 2023, 7:30 pm
Sagebrush Theatre
1300 9th Avenue, Kamloops

A musical celebration of International Women’ Day. Canadian songstress Sarah Slean joins the KSO for a genre-bending evening of her original music, songs by the legendary Joni Mitchell, and other surprises.

FEATURING
Dina Gilbert, conductor
Sarah Slean, vocalist & pianist

Heather Walker is a professional horn player, a long-time performer with the Kamloops Symphony, and a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Use the Alexander Technique to improve posture, reduce tension, and to live with more ease of movement and lightness of being. For more information about the technique, please contact Heather at 250-716-3464.

February 2023 – Vancouver Island Symphony: Winter Song: Beethoven and more

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WINTER SONG – Vancouver Island Symphony

Nanaimo: Port Theatre, Feb. 11, 7:30 PM

Courtenay: Sid Williams Theatre, Feb. 12, 2:00 PM

What a magnificent musical ride as we travel 200 years of music with Chants d’Auvergne – a collection of folk songs from the Auvergne region of France by Canteloube (1923) to Faure’s Pelléas et Mélisande (1898) to Beethoven’s 7th Symphony (1813) – a work he conducted and the audience demanded an encore of the famous “Allegretto” second movement. Then we skip forward 100 years to a premiere by Jennifer Butler with text by Tina Biello and performed by Marion Newman.

GUEST CONDUCTOR: Cosette Justo Valdés (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CANDIDATE)

GUEST ARTIST: Marion Newman MEZZO-SOPRANO

Joseph CANTELOUBE : Chants d’Auvergne (Songs from the Auvergne)
Series 5 (#2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Jennifer BUTLER: New Work for Mezzo-Soprano and Strings (VIS commission)

Gabriel FAURÉ : Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80 Suite

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN : Symphony No. 7, op. 92, A major

GUEST CONDUCTOR
Cosette Justo Valdés
(ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CANDIDATE)

GUEST ARTIST
Marion Newman
MEZZO-SOPRANO

Heather Walker is a professional horn player and a core member of the Vancouver Island Symphony. When not performing music, she also teaches the Alexander Technique, a system of re-education that allows us to re-train our movement patterns for efficiency and ease.

February 2023 – Kamloops Symphony: Sibelius, Murphy, Mozart’s Dark Side

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MOZART’S DARK SIDE

Saturday, February 4, 2023, 7:30 pm, Sagebrush Theatre, Kamloops

Sunday, February 5, 2023, 2:30 pm, The Nexus at First, Salmon Arm

Canadian pianist Maxim Bernard returns to Kamloops to join us for a journey through the darker side of classical music. Kelly-Marie Murphy’s In The Time of Our Disbelieving  is a powerful reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sibelius’ dark & menacing incidental music sets the scene for the tragic love triangle of Pelléas and Mélisande, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor is a beautifully melancholic work, bringing the darker side of his creativity to the surface.

Heather Walker is a professional horn player, a long-time performer with the Kamloops Symphony, and a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Use the Alexander Technique to improve posture, reduce tension, and to live with more ease of movement and lightness of being. For more information about the technique, please contact Heather at 250-716-3464.

January 2023 – VISO Family Show with Al Simmons

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2023

3:00 PM @ The Port Theatre

The Einstein of Entertainers
Al Simmons

CONDUCTOR: Scott MacInnes

He’s a musician! He’s an inventor! He’s a nut! The Einstein of entertainers, wizard of one-liners and lightning bolt of lunacy. His astounding gadgets, preposterous songs, impeccable comic timing and kooky take on classic vaudeville have thrilled and entertained fans of all ages for 54 years. Juno Award winner Al Simmons is a creative genius whose highly original performances of profound wackiness and of off-the-wall inventions have taken the arts of Music and Comedy to unparalleled heights of hilarity. Young or old, you cannot fail to appreciate this man’s frenetic stage antics and mind-boggling lovableness.

“A tour-de-force of ingenious, charming silliness.”
Globe and Mail

Heather Walker is a professional horn player and a core member of the Vancouver Island Symphony. She is also a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Anyone can use the Alexander Technique to learn to move with more freedom and ease, have better posture, reduce pain, and recuperate from stress and undue wear & tear. She teaches the Alexander Technique in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. For more information about the Alexander Technique, please contact Heather at heather@soundbeingstudio.com.

January 2023 – Island Symphony APPASSIONATO at the Port Theatre

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Appassionato best describes this programme starting with Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite. We showcase the music of two female composers from different eras with Ariel Barnes returning to perform Invisible Distance by Dorothy Chang, a beautiful piece commissioned by the VIS in 2015 and Overture in C Major by Fanny Mendelssohn. And to make it a family affair – we perform Fanny’s brother, Felix Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony.

GUEST CONDUCTOR: Jonathan Girard

GUEST ARTIST: Ariel Barnes CELLO

Concert Programme

Fanny Mendelssohn (Hensel) : Overture in C

Igor STRAVINKSY : Pulcinella Suite

Dorothy CHANG : Invisible Distance (2015)
Spheres
In the Slow Time of Stars
In Darkness

Felix MENDELSSOHN : Symphony No. 4 Op. 90 “Italian”

PORT THEATRE, Nanaimo, JAN 21, 2023

PRE-CONCERT TALK 6:30 PM, CONCERT 7:30 PM

SID WILLIAMS THEATRE, Courtenay, JAN 22, 2023

CONCERT 2:00 PM

Heather Walker is a professional horn player and a core member of the Vancouver Island Symphony. When not performing music, she also teaches the Alexander Technique, a system of re-education that allows us to re-train our movement patterns for efficiency and ease.

December 2022 – KSO Christmas

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Join the Kamloops Symphony for our annual celebration of the Festive Season, with a lively programme that will delight the whole family. Get into the holiday spirit with the KSO Chorus, harp soloist Naomi Cloutier and a selection of festive hits.

FEATURING

Antonio Delgado, guest conductor
Naomi Cloutier, harp
KSO Chorus, Tomas Bijok chorus master

PROGRAMME

Benjamin Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky: Excerpts from The Nutcracker
George Frideric Handel: Excerpts from The Messiah

Saturday, December 17, 2022, 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm and Sunday, December 18, 2022, 2:00 pm
Sagebrush Theatre, 1300 9th Avenue, Kamloops

Heather Walker is a professional horn player, a long-time performer with the Kamloops Symphony, and a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Use the Alexander Technique to improve posture, reduce tension, and to live with more ease of movement and lightness of being. For more information about the technique, please contact Heather at 250-716-3464.

December 2022 – John Denver, A Rocky Mountain High Christmas

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Hope International Presents: 
A Rocky Mountain High Christmas
With special guests: members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra

December 5, 2022 7:30PM, Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver

A Rocky Mountain High Christmas is presented by Hope International in association with Geek SOS Productions and features members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.

Hope International is proud to present A Rocky Mountain High Christmas. John Denver’s original arranger/conductor and Hollywood legend, Lee Holdridge conducts the renown Vancouver Opera Orchestra at The Oprheum on December 5th.  Joined by Canadian recording artists, Rick and Steve Worrall and special guest stars, rising star tenor, Chad Abrahamson and soprano supreme, Chloe Hurst as well as The Vancouver and Langley Children’s Choir, in this wonderful kick off to the Christmas season.

A celebration of John Denver’s greatest hits along with Mr. Holdridge’s arrangements of John’s favourite Christmas songs. A production for all ages which is sure to take you down memory lane, put a smile on your face and get you into the Christmas spirit.

December 2022 – Vancouver Island Symphony Christmas memories

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CHRISTMAS MEMORIES, December 2nd & 3rd

Welcome to Christmas with the Vancouver Island Symphony!

Music holds a special place in our Christmas memories. Kick off the holiday season with a concert for the whole family featuring favourite carols and songs: O Come All Ye Faithful, Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Feliz Navidad, O Holy Night, the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, excerpts from The Nutcracker and more!

TIDEMARK THEATRE, Campbell River, Dec 2, 2022, 7:30 PM

PORT THEATRE, Nanaimo, Dec 3, 2022, 5:00 or 7:30 PM

GUEST CONDUCTOR: Calvin Dyck  

GUEST ARTIST: Island Consort, Bruce Farquharson DIRECTOR

Heather Walker is a professional horn player and a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Anyone can use the Alexander Technique to learn to move with more freedom and ease, have better posture, reduce pain, and recuperate from stress and undue wear & tear. She teaches the Alexander Technique in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. For more information about the Alexander Technique, please contact Heather at heather@soundbeingstudio.com.

November 2022 – Evocative Elegance, Music of Debussy, Boyle, Glass, Moussa

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Join Heather as she performs with the Kamloops Symphony:

EVOCATIVE ELEGANCE
Saturday, November 12, 2022, 7:30 pm
Sagebrush Theatre
1300 9th Avenue, Kamloops

Juno-winning concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal returns to Kamloops for an evening of elegance. Three different evocative concertos, including Canadian Samy Moussa’s sensational Violin Concerto “Adrano”, are paired with Debussy’s stunning Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune.

FEATURING
Dina Gilbert, conductor
Andrew Wan, violin

PROGRAMME
Lili Boulanger: D’un Matin de printemps
Claude Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Ina Boyle: Violin Concerto
Philip Glass: Concerto grosso
Samy Moussa: Violin Concerto “Adrano”

In addition to being a professional horn player, Heather is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. If you would like to learn to use your body with more ease and efficiency, try the Alexander Technique!

October 2022 – Kamloops Symphony, “The Piano Men”

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Join Heather as she plays horn with the Kamloops Symphony:

THE PIANO MEN: THE MUSIC OF BILLY JOEL AND ELTON JOHN
Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29, 2022, 7:30 pm
Sagebrush Theatre
1300 9th Avenue, Kamloops

Jim Witter and his band make their return to Kamloops to pay homage to two of the greatest Rock’n Roll pianists of our time: Elton John & Billy Joel. From Candle in the Wind to Just the Way You Are, this concert will take you on a trip through the 70s, hit by hit.

FEATURING
Dina Gilbert, conductor
Jim Witter, vocalist

PROGRAMME
Highlights include Your Song, My Life, Candle in the Wind, Rocket Man, Just the Way You Are, and many more classic hits.

Heather Walker is a professional horn player, a long-time performer with the Kamloops Symphony, and a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Use the Alexander Technique to improve posture, reduce tension, and to live with more ease of movement and lightness of being. For more information about the technique, please contact Heather at 250-716-3464.