By Dan White – Special to the Sydenham Current
This week, a bit of a hodgepodge of upcoming events and recent arts events in the community and beyond.
H.W. Burgess Elementary School musical
As I write this column Joni and I are between shows for the H.W. Burgess elementary school musical, Pirates 2, the hidden treasure. Our good friend Meighan Lung directs, choreographs and herds cats twice a year at Burgess and presents fun musicals performed by grade 3 – 6 students. Joni, Dave Babbitt and I pop in at the end and assist with sound and lighting but Meighan and a dedicated group of staff members do all of the heavy lifting. Dave has been assisting Meg for some time now and Joni and I have hopped on board in the last few years. It is wonderful to see so many children involved in preparing a live performance.
Are they all thrilled to be there? No! It’s elementary school and some of them are busy being angsty in preparation for their teen years, while others are out of their comfort zone as performers. But the staff do a fabulous job of supporting and encouraging and even the most glum students light up when they see friends or family in the audience and they can’t help but beam when they receive applause. Most of these young people will remember this for years to come and the collaborative effort it takes to prepare for and present a live performance is an experience that could well change the course of their youth.
Knox and more
Last Saturday Dave, Joni, Meighan and I, along with our Wallaceburg Brass Quintet trombone player, Steven Reeves had a somewhat exhausting, but rewarding performance day. We started the afternoon with three gigs at the three seniors’ residences in Wallaceburg. These performances bring entertainment to seniors and are always enjoyable. We try to get to each of Fairfield, Sydenham Residence and The Oaks twice annually. Our audiences are always appreciative and it is great when they sing along and watching a sea of smiles as we play. The highlight for me this time was after one performance a staff came to chat and stated that our performance of Cohen’s Hallelujah gave him goose bumps.
That evening we performed at Knox Presbyterian Church at the fundraiser organized by Jane Lung – Meighan’s mom. This event brought together a multitude of local musicians to perform and raise funds for local food banks. It was fun with a wide variety of musicians and ensembles coming together to donate their time and talent for a worthy local cause. Oh, and those same musicians also dug into their piggy banks for the collection to support the cause. Another fabulously community minded group, The Wallaceburg Kinsmen, matched donations this year to bring the total raised to over $4,000. I believe the event has now raised over $60k in the 25 or so years it has been running.
Wallaceburg Brass Quintet and Friends Chamber Concert
On May 24 at 7pm, the third annual WBQ & Friends Chamber Concert supported by the Chatham Kent Arts Council will take place at Trinity United Church. This event started out because our quintet had been together for several years and we had enough repertoire to host our own show. However, that immediately morphed into inviting friends who were interested in playing in a wide assortment of instrumental groupings. Our first two years we had a half dozen different ensembles and the quintet played for the bulk of the show.
This year we have 13 different ensembles and the quintet will play only a handful of charts. The diversity is quite extraordinary this year. The newly formed Three Rivers Horn Choir will feature 10 French Horn players from Lambton and Kent counties. There are flute and woodwind ensembles, mixed groupings, a vocalist, pianist, and even a guest artist. Clarinetist Gavin Warren has invited his friend Yvon Arsenault, an accomplished and up-and-coming Canadian cellist to perform with him at this event. The CK Arts Council will be sponsoring bringing Yvon to Wallaceburg.
The evenings repertoire will range from a seldom performed work by Beethoven, to country songs, sacred and secular songs and more than a few surprises.
As always with this event admission is, as my art teacher Mrs. Kurvink would say, “A sweet smile and a thank you.”
CK Arts Council Studio Tour
Put this in your calendar – Saturday May 31 from 10 – 4 and Sunday June 1 from noon – 4 is this years’ annual CKAC Studio Tour. This iteration will feature 7 studios with 11 artist meeting with you to discuss their craft and six venues displaying artists work with some guest artists in house. This is a free event and features artists from Blenheim, Dresden, Wallaceburg and Chatham area. Grab a few friends and go for a weekend drive to take in some of the amazingly talent visual artists of CK.
CK Arts Council Emerging Youth Artist Scholarship
If you are, or know of, an artists from CK that is heading off to study fine arts in post-secondary education in the fall, go to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ckartsandculturenetwork and scan the QR code to apply for one of our two $1,500 scholarships. Deadline to apply is June 13.
Stratford
This weekend marks the return to Stratford Festival for the 2025 season. As of now Joni and I will be taking in Annie, Macbeth and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in The Festival City. Check in with this column regularly for my thoughts on the shows, upcoming deals and sights in Stratford and perhaps some other fun opportunities.
Rent
Theatre Sarnia is presenting the musical Rent from May 23 – 31 at The Imperial Theatre. To take in some stellar local theatre, get your tickets at https://www.imperialtheatre.net/show/rent/. I will review this show as well… but by the time I do… it will be too late to see this one. A quick scan of the seating shows that tickets sales are going very well. Don’t wait as this will sell out.
