Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrated in music, dance
Ballet Kelowna and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO) join forces to close their respective 2016-17 seasons with Canadiana Suite: A Sesquicentennial Celebration — a tribute performance in honour of Canada’s 150th anniversary.
The shows take place May 4-5 at the Kelowna Community Theatre and May 6 at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre.
The OSO celebrates Canadian music icons, including R. Murray Schafer, Gordon Lightfoot, Marjan Mozetich and Oscar Peterson with a commissioned arrangement by Lance Anderson.
Ballet Kelowna will serve up four world premieres reflecting the striking beauty, rich history, and cultural diversity of our country from celebrated choreographers Gioconda Barbuto, Donald Sales, Matjash Mrozewski and Simone Orlando.
“Ballet Kelowna and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra are proud to present this monumental performance,” said Orlando, Ballet Kelowna’s artistic director and CEO. “More than 60 distinguished Canadian artists including local jazz ensemble The Neville Bowman Trio, and renowned blues artist Shakura S’Aida will unite in celebration of our country’s wealth of talent and multicultural character.”
Canadiana Suite: A Sesquicentennial Celebration will feature themes of Canada’s landscape with a tip of the hat to the railroads.
“We are excited to share the stage with Ballet Kelowna for this performance that celebrates some of Canada’s great musical icons,” said Rosemary Thomson, the OSO’s music director. “This uplifting artistic tribute to Canada’s rich cultural heritage and vast landscape will inspire us all, making us even more proud to be Canadian.”
The OSO will open the program with a performance of Train by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer. This dramatic work will take audiences on a soundscape trip from Vancouver to Montreal.
Audiences will then be swept back in time to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, with the premiere of acclaimed choreographer Gioconda Barbuto’s latest work. Barbuto’s stunning display will
be performed to Gordon Lightfoot’s epic Canadian Railroad Trilogy, sung by Neville Bowman and arranged for orchestra by Lee Holdridge.
The premiere of Elephant In A Room, choreographed by award-winning artist Donald Sales, will be danced to a medley of spirituals associated with the Underground Railroad. Sales’ choreography will reveal the strength and courageous spirit of those who risked everything to escape slavery and seek refuge in Canada.
Choreographer Matjash Mrozewski’s world premiere is set to Postcards from the Sky. The music evokes an immense spaciousness, and is composed by Marjan Mozetich, one of the most broadcast classical composers in Canada.
The program will culminate with the premiere of a work co-created by Orlando and Sales, set to Canadiana Suite by Canadian jazz legend Oscar Peterson. The OSO has commissioned Peterson’s friend and colleague Lance Anderson to write a signature arrangement.
To conclude the evening, audiences will be treated to Peterson’s historic Hymn to Freedom.