Daniel Lapp will be busy this weekend as performer, producer, host and musical director of The Joy of Life Festival
When planning his myriad annual events — which number a halfdozen on the low end — local bandleader and instructor Daniel Lapp rarely does small-scale. Big picture is more his style. The longtime local music champion is wearing multiple hats for this weekend’s Joy of Life Festival, which gets underway Friday at the Alix Goolden Performance Hall and wraps Sunday at Colwood’s Royal Bay Secondary School. During the hours in between, Lapp will serve as a performer, producer, host, musical director and doer of all things necessary.
“The map I had to draw for the rehearsal schedule, it took me an hour and a half just to get my head around it,” Lapp said.
The event is produced in conjunction with the Victoria Conservatory of Music, for which Lapp serves as the artistic director in its School of Contemporary Music. With no shortage of players at his disposal, this year’s Joy of Life Festival will feature professional and amateur musicians together on one stage, often at the same time. At the core will be Lapp, who will occupy many guises during the Joy of Fiddle, the Joy of Song and the Joy of Jazz — the three programs on tap at the two-night, three-day event.
The Friday portion of the festival caters to Lapp’s love of the fiddle, the instrument for which he is best known. A red-hot quartet featuring Lapp, guitarist Adam Dobres, cellist Rachel Capon and fiddler Brittany Iwanciwski will deliver a program of Celtic, French, and Scandinavian tunes, followed by collaborations with two 50-member community music projects also helmed by Lapp, the B.C. Fiddle Orchestra and Folkestra.
“This will be the biggest gathering of fiddlers east of Romania,” Lapp said, chuckling at the sheer size of the festival he has conceived.
The opening night of the festival will put the fiddle spotlight on Lapp, who of late has been featured mostly as an accompanist with other artists. “I guess I’m the guest and the host,” he said. “That seems to be a theme this weekend.”
Other performers will join Lapp and more of his pet projects on Saturday during The Joy of Song portion of the program. Hits, including tributes to David Bowie and The Eagles, will be tackled by the 90-voice Joy of Life Choir and the night’s special guest, singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing. “It will be Stephen’s first time singing with a choir, so he’s pretty excited,” Lapp said.
The inclusion of Fearing, a Vancouver native who recently moved to Victoria, will give extra resonance to a version of U2’s One, one of the signature pieces of The Joy of Song set. “Ironically, he went to grade school with the band in Dublin,” Lapp said of Fearing, who has notched a pair of Juno Award wins from nine career nominations, both on his own and with his group, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.
“What a singer. He’s a powerhouse.”
The surprise finale will be something to see, Lapp promised — upwards of 100 voices singing a sweeping, popular tune by a recently deceased rock icon often associated with the colour purple. “It will definitely be an anthem version with all those people playing.”
The final day of the festival will be a brief but memorable afternoon of jazz. Acclaimed pianist Tony Genge, on loan from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS, is atop the list of guests appearing at The Joy of Jazz, which is being held at the new Teechamitsa Theatre at Royal Bay school. Lapp will sing and play trumpet at this portion of the event, offering fans a glimpse of the popular Chet Baker tribute he performs on occasion.
Ornette Coleman and Chick Corea compositions will be performed by Lapp and his bandmates, including one of Lapp’s former students, trumpeter Matt Bawtinheimer. “Even though I’ve given this concert a Chet theme, we will be moving in and around that as well because these players are so good.”
The Sunday session at Royal Bay Secondary is a tip of the hat to the conservatory’s recently opened satellite location on the West Shore. The music being produced by the students at both conservatory locations is at such a high level, Lapp said he is certain their involvement in the weekend of activities will catch local music fans by surprise.
“Hopefully, we’ll draw some people from the city out to see what’s new. You really have to see some of these kids perform.”