You can tune into performances this weekend and next that are the result of a series of workshops designed to help people compose musical scores, even though they can’t read music. Roberts Creek maestro Giorgio Magnanensi, artistic director of Vancouver New Music, put out a call in January for Sunshine Coast residents to join in a workshop to learn how to “paint music,” that is, get a musical idea out of their heads and onto paper in some form of graphic notation.
Following two workshops in February, those painted scores have been played and recorded on video and will be presented along with livestream chat in two free concerts on YouTube. Six pieces will be performed at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 12 and another six on the following Friday, March 19, also at 4 p.m. Among the participants are some familiar names including artists Nadina Tandy, Marilyn Browning, and Derek von Essen, and musician Graham Ord. The links will be posted on Vancouver New Music’s YouTube page.
Shout Out!
With March Break comes youth art at Gibsons Public Art Gallery. Check out the multi-media works by kids aged two to 18, starting March 11 and running to April 4. It’s always a fun and varied exhibition and shows the promise of Sunshine Coast artists in the making. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
High stakes love
The “long call” is a poker term that describes an attempt by one player with a weak hand to challenge what they believe is a bluff by another player who also has a weak hand. Imagine the possibilities when it’s used as dramatic theme involving, among other things, romantic love, exotic dancing, and captive orangutans, as it is in Vancouver writer Jenn Griffin’s The Long Call. The play will be read in a livestream performance at North Van’s Presentation House Theatre by the Sunshine Coast’s Off the Page on Sunday, March 14 at 2 p.m. Featuring Robert Moloney, Liza D’Aguilar, Lara Barclay, Janet Hodgkinson, and Wanda Nowicki. Tickets are $8 at sidedooraccess.com.
Tiny dancers
The Sunshine Coast Nutcracker held its first auditions on Feb. 28 at the Heritage Playhouse Theatre in Gibsons with more than 100 local dancers ranging in age from six-and-a-half to 18 years participating either in person or by video submission. The Sunshine Coast Nutcracker’s production is scheduled to hit the Playhouse stage Dec.16-20. Any dancers who missed this first round can still send in video submissions. Details can be found at sunshinecoastnutcracker.com
Waldorf Ballet is also mounting a production of The Nutcracker, to be staged at Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt Dec. 9-12. Auditions for dancers who will be at least seven years old by December are scheduled at Waldorf’s Sechelt studio for Saturday, May 1 at 10 a.m. and Sunday, May 2 at 2 p.m. Audition registration will remain open until March 14. More information is at waldorfballet.com
Live music
The Clubhouse at the Pender Harbour Golf Club presents a solo show by Dr. Fun, Gary Gilbert, on vocals, guitar and harmonica on Sunday, March 14, from 2 to 5 p.m. The good doctor offers up a toe-tapping show of old-time acoustic blues, western swing, gypsy jazz, newgrass and classic folk. The Clubhouse adheres to B.C. public health protocols.
Space is limited in Art Beat but please let us know about your events at [email protected]
