VICTORIA COMPOSER NOTED IN NEW YORK
Tobin Stokes created the score for the opera Fallujah, based on the war experiences of a U.S. marine in Iraq
Victoria composer Tobin Stokes has been on a winning streak in recent years, but his most recent accomplishment might top them all.
Stokes composed the score for the opera Fallujah, which began its four-show New York run on Thursday. The opera is being staged by the New York City Opera as part of its Chamber Opera Series.
Fallujah’s final performance in Manhattan takes place this afternoon at The Duke on 42nd Street, a 200-seat black box theatre in Times Square. Kristof Van Grysperre is conducting the New York City Opera Orchestra through Stokes’s score during each performance.
It’s a considerable accomplishment for Stokes, who has been on a roll. He is serving as musical director for I Think I’m Fallin’ — The Songs of Joni Mitchell, which runs through Dec. 4 at Victoria’s Belfry Theatre. He was musical director of the Flotsam Jetsam: Life on the West Coast revue, which had a successful 10-day run at The Vic Theatre this year.
Fallujah is based on the war experiences of U.S. marine Christian Ellis, an Iraq War veteran. Program notes call it the first opera written about the Iraq War from the perspective of a soldier. City Opera Vancouver developed it in 2011 and it had its world première during the Long Beach Opera’s season this year. A collective of local performers will pay tribute to Leonard Cohen tonight in a venue that seems entirely fitting for Cohen’s classic songcraft: a vinyl record store.
Wired to the Sky, Following Lions, Wickanninish and Taylor Caspersen, among others, will sing a selection of classic Cohen songs, including Hallelujah, Suzanne, Tower of Song and First We Take Manhattan. The tribute will be held at Vinyl Envy, a record store at 1717 Quadra St. Doors open at 7 p.m. Admission is $10. The David Lam Auditorium will be home to an afternoon of Hindustani classical music today.
Young artists Sharanjeet Mand (sitar), Akhil Jobanputra (vocals), Mohan Bhide (harmonium) and Sunny Matharu (tabla) will perform in the MacLaurin Building on the University of Victoria campus starting at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $20 adults ($15 students) at Munro’s Books. They will be available for purchase at the door.
For more information, phone 250-721-2672. Nick Carter has performed in Victoria previously, but never as a solo act. He’ll change all that with a performance Tuesday at Sugar nightclub.
Carter, whose career with the Backstreet Boys is still in motion, will make the trip to Victoria with a full band in tow.
He will certainly play pop hits such as Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Everybody
(Backstreet’s Back) and I Want It That Way from his chart-topping days with Backstreet Boys, but fans at his show on Tuesday can expect another side of the Florida native.
“I get to play guitar a lot more during my live show. That’s something I love to do,” Carter said in an interview with the Calgary Herald.
“My solo music has a lot more rock influence than [Backstreet Boys] stuff. I’m a rocker at heart.”
Tickets are $36.50 at Ticketfly.com and Lyle’s Place. Doors are at 8 p.m.
Opening acts are Dan Talevski and The New Electric. Toronto electro-pop act Dragonette will bring its arena-ready act to Sugar nightclub on Thursday.
The group — whose lead singer, Martina Sobara, lent her vocals to
Hello, the massive 2010 club hit by Martin Solveig — will be performing songs from its Juno Award-winning catalogue in addition to material from the forthcoming Royal Blues, the band’s first album since 2012.
Tickets are $20 at Lyle’s Place and Ticketzone.com. Opening act is Lowell. If you’re quick, you may be able to grab some of the few remaining tickets for A Winter
Fantasy, the upcoming Christmas show by Liona Boyd, Andrew Dolson and the Cordova Bay Children’s Choir.
A Winter Fantasy will be held Friday at the Charlie White Theatre in Sidney. The program will feature seasonal songs (Good King Wenseslas, We Three Kings, Silent Night) that are on Boyd’s new Christmas album, along with material from her long and decorated classical guitar career.
Tickets are $59.57 at the Mary Winspear box office (2243 Beacon Ave.) They are also available by phone at 250-656-0275 or online at tickets.marywinspear.ca.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Vancouver rocker Matthew Good is paying tribute to Beautiful
Midnight — the most popular and critically acclaimed record of his career — with an Alix Goolden Performance Hall concert Feb. 11.
The show, which will see Good and his bandmates perform the 1999 album in its entirety, kicks off 28 dates across Canada.
Tickets are on sale for $42.50 at livenation.com or by phone at 1-888-732-1682. Opening act is Craig Strickland.