The Pender Harbour Music Society has released tantalizing details about the upcoming grand opening of its 2025-26 season.
This weekend, the society is set to present its annual Mid-Summer Chamber Music Weekend. Renowned violinist and audience favourite Joan Blackman has curated two contrasting afternoon programs.
On Saturday, August 23, The Venner Quartet (Paule Prefontaine, David Stewart, and Amy Laing) will present an afternoon of string quartet music by Reinhold Glière, Franz Schubert, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Antonín Dvorák.
On Sunday, August 24, audiences can look forward to an afternoon of musical treasures performed by The Four Jays, bringing together Joan and her colleagues Jodi Proznick, Julia Nolan, Jane Hayes. This concert features works by Debussy, Defontaine, Koechlin, Resanovic, Piazzolla, Padgett, Proznick and UBC doctoral candidate and composer Jimuel Dave Dagta.
"This relaxed concert performed by internationally acclaimed musicians will bring the perfect ending to another August Chamber Music weekend," writes Art Beat correspondent (and Pender Harbour Music Society concert coordinator) Karen Strong.
Tickets are $30 per concert; they are available at Harbour Insurance in Madeira Park and the Visitor Centre in Sechelt — or at penderharbourmusic.ca. A full weekend of classical music is available by purchasing a weekend pass for $50.
Plein air performances
Outdoor music is free for gratis enjoyment at three locations across the Coast every weekend in the summer.
In Gibsons this weekend, the Music in the Landing series features the spellbinding Latin rhythms of Coctel de Pasion, a Latin quartet playing a mellow, yet danceable mix of bolero, salsa, and montuno styles. Coctel is served on Friday, Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. at the harbour gazebo. On Saturday, the finest all-female marimba ensemble on the Sunshine Coast (and stars of last year's Amazing Race Canada) will perform at Winegarden Park: the Knotty Dotters start their lineup at 4:30 p.m. They'll be followed at 6:30 p.m. by Them Ordinary Things (Paul Dwyer, Mark Lebbell, Kaia Nielsen and Simon Paradis), who serve fresh cuts of folk, Americana and heartfelt blues.
In Sechelt on Saturday, three acclaimed singer-songwriters take the stage in Hackett Park from noon to 2 p.m.: Bradley Wells, Stephan LaCasse, and Michael Friedman.
Wells is a Canadian guitarist whose music fuses classical technique with the passion of flamenco. A self-taught musician, he studied advanced flamenco under Amir John Haddad and performs Spanish-influenced fingerstyle guitar around the Sunshine Coast. (When he's not playing, Bradley crafts bespoke guitar accessories and high-end printmaking tools.)
LaCasse — seemingly omnipresent at a host of local venues — brings a fresh, confident voice to his new home in the West Coast music scene. His vocals oscillate between soft and dark to bright and powerful, while his lyrics sway from sharp and poetic to catchy and fun.
Friedman is one of the most spellbinding and unique performers to emerge from Canada's West Coast music scene. Fusing a distinctive blend of stirring vocals and instrumental virtuosity he has been stoking and delighting audiences around the world with his exquisite song artistry for many years.
In Roberts Creek on Sunday, the Slow Sundays in the Creek concert series continues in the amphitheatre behind the community library. Performers will include the irrepressible Beachcombers Ukulele Group Singers, Michael Lacoste (founder of the Inner Ears Studios), and the Holly Hawkes (featuring Megan Mansbridge and Joel Fafard with guest musician Kaia Nielsen joining them on standup bass and harmonies). Additional performers will be announced by coordinator Mark Trevis, who maintains the frequently updated Facebook group called Slow Sundays in the Creek.
Weekend of words
"Every weekend in August, there's so much happening on the Coast," opined Coast Cultural Alliance executive director Linda Williams during a visit to the book fair at St. Hilda's Anglican Church last weekend.
The authors who exhibited there are among the writers who will be featured at the Art & Words Festival this weekend at the Gibsons Public Market (Aug. 22 to 24). The weekend festival features workshops, readings, and a screening of the film Body of Light by the late Gordon Halloran (4:15 p.m. on Sunday).
The Sunshine Coast Book Awards for BC Authors will also be announced during a ceremony on Saturday evening (starting at 6:15 p.m.).
Registration and a full schedule of events is available by browsing to scwes.ca.
