Symphony to commemorate armistice
Yes, it’s now 100 years since trumpets sounded an end to “the war to end all wars.”
Many Canadians made their way to Flanders fields this month, while millions more will take part in Remembrance Day events in their home communities this weekend.
Here in Lethbridge, remembrance will continue with two choral salutes and a special edition of one of the world’s most beloved ballets.
On Nov. 18 and 19, the Lethbridge Symphony
Orchestra will welcome three choirs and a guest soloist for “Salute,” commemorating the armistice as well as honouring all who died as a result of that war and the battles that followed later.
Two choirs from Chinook High School will be featured, along with community-based Vox Musica and mezzo-soprano Erinn Evdokim off Roberts — an illustrious graduate of the long-running Anne Campbell Singers.
The concerts‚ in the afternoon Nov. 18 and evening on Nov. 19 — will include selections from Beethoven’s time to the present. His “Wellington’s Victory,” written in 1813, celebrated the decisive victory by British troops led by Arthur Wellesley — the Duke of Wellington — over Joseph Bonaparte that year near Vitoria, Spain. (Two years later, the duke routed Joseph's brother, Napolean Bonaparte, in the more famous Battle of Waterloo, in today’s Belgium).
Maurice Ravel wrote “Le Tombeau de Couperin” during the First World War, dedicating each of its movements to a friend lost in battle. It was originally written for solo piano, but Ravel later created an orchestral version.
Welsh composer Karl Jenkins created the concert’s third piece, “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” in 1999, incorporating parts of the original Latin mass but adding elements from the Jewish and Muslim traditions as well as quotations from Rudyard Kipling and Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Tickets for the concerts, being presented in Southminster United Church, are available weekdays from the Lethbridge Symphony kiosk just inside Southminster Hall on 11 Street South. Southern Alberta audiences have enjoyed many presentations of “The Nutcracker” over the decades. It was a staple ingredient in the impressive University Theatre community performance series presented by the late Don Acaster for many years.
Now there’s a new version touring North America with just one Lethbridge show, Thursday at the Enmax Centre. A company of the famous Moscow Ballet is touring “The Great Russian Nutcracker,” and like the presentations previously staged here by Alberta Ballet, it will feature local youngsters on stage.
Billed as an event promoting peace, it will incorporate a huge “dove of peace” as well as a Chinese “firebird of peace” with a 20-foot wingspan! Elephants, bears, bulls — and a 15foot-tall unicorn — will also interact with the children and the 34member
professional dance troupe.
Tickets are available at the two Ticket Centre locations. (This year’s Alberta Ballet presentation, by the way, will run Dec. 14 to 24 in Calgary).
“The Nutcracker” is surely a harbinger of Christmas, and so are the art and craft sales staged across the nation. In Lethbridge, the Oldman River Potters Guild and the Lethbridge Glass
Artisans are holding their annual sale — closing at 6 p.m. today — at Westminster Community Hall. There’s also a “Christmas market” event in Heritage Hall at Exhibition Park, closing at 4 p.m.
Next weekend, Nov. 16 and 17, it’s “Christmas at Casa,” offering a full selection of handmade artisan items along with works of art. Admission is free, and the event is scheduled for 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, then 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
They’re not promising “nights in white satin” but members of the Lethbridge Artists Club have opened “Moody Blues,” a group exhibition and sale running now until Dec. 21 at Casa. Emerging and mature artists are participating in the event which, if you’re wondering, features many shades of blue this year.
And of course all these events signal it’s time for Downtown Lethbridge’s 18th annual Bright Lights Festival on Friday, with traditional hayrides, Christmas movies, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, hot coffee and free popcorn. Did we mention Santa?
Events will be held in Galt Gardens, with a number of nearby downtown stores offering “midnight madness” sales through the evening.
Another legendary character is back in southern Alberta. “Oliver!” and his thieving friends have taken over the Carriage House Theatre in Cardston. The community theatre presentation, with a cast of 40-plus, will run weekday and Saturday evenings until Nov. 17.
Call the theatre, 403-653-1000 or visit the Carriage House website to check for ticket availability.
A tip of the hat — a hard hat, likely — to Pronghorn Controls, a southern Alberta company that supplies instrumentation and electric services to gas and oil fields across the region. It was presented a Canada’s Safest Employer Award in Toronto recently, during a ceremony hosted by Canadian Occupational Safety.
Many reminders this week: Tonight, the Lethbridge Folk Club presents storyteller and musician Don MacLean, 8 p.m. at the Lethbridge College Cave.
Also tonight, it’s the final staging of “She Kills Monsters,” 7:30 p.m. in University Theatre. Photographer and storyteller Dennis
Shigematsu will offer his latest no-charge presentation — “Iran: Ancient Persian Empire to Modern Day Nation” — on Wednesday and Friday, 7 p.m. at the downtown library.
And coming up, New West Theatre will be presenting “Night Life 2.0” next Friday and Saturday. Check their website for information on the 18-plus cabaret event, being held at the Cite des Prairies, 6 Avenue and Mayor Magrath Drive South.