Kings arts scene - as of Nov. 19

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

Justice in Your Cup

Hear from a Guatemalan coffee producer about the struggles and successes of fair trade and watch Madre Tierra Nov. 19, 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at Just Us Wolfville’s Coffeehouse. Herlindo Hernandez Pu is a coffee and macadamia nut farmer from Guatemala.

Acadia Art Gallery

An exhibition tour and discussion Nov. 19, noon to 1 p.m., is presented as part of Acadia Lifelong Learning’s brownbag series. Join the gallery director for a discussion on portraiture and the current exhibition, Kingston Prize

November 21 and 28, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. it’s Drop in Art Saturdays’ free thematic art activities in the gallery for all ages. For November, we will be making snow globes. All materials are provided.

Concert coming

Chris Bowman, baritone, and David Chafe, piano, will present a recital of voice and piano music about travel Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. in the Garden Room, Irving Centre, Acadia University. Suggested donation: $10.

Open mic kitchen party

At the Union St. Café in Berwick Nov. 20, Jon McKiel hosts the open mic kitchen party, followed Nov. 27 by Marshall and Lake.

Open mic kitchen parties start at 8:30 p.m. every Friday.

See Dickens

Berwick Community Theatre presents the second annual presentation of "A Dickens' Christmas Carol” (A Travelling Travesty in Two Tumultuous Acts), Nov. 20, 21, 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Church (Anglican) hall, Commercial St. Admission is $5.

The group will be accepting donations for the food bank and will also delay the start after the town Christmas lights parade Nov. 28 if necessary.

Blues night

It’s a blues night Nov. 21, with Moonshine Emergency and special guests Blueprint, at The Top Hat in Greenwood, 10 p.m., $3 at the door.

Sunday Music

The classical chamber music concert series, Sunday Music in the Garden Room, sponsored by the Valley Branch of the Acadia University Alumni Association, presents its third of the 2009/ 2010 season of free afternoon concerts Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. in the Garden Room of Acadia’s K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre in Wolfville.

It will be given by Canadian violist Sharon Wei, with pianist Angela Park, currently on a tour arranged by Debut Atlantic. This concert offers a rare opportunity to bask in the rich, golden tones of the viola: a too-often-neglected “middle voice” of the string quartet and symphony orchestra.

WEBLINKS

www.acadiau.ca/artsacadia/

Films screen

Fundy Film screens Goodbye Solo Nov. 22. Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané), a U.S. immigrant taxi driver, is among the most remarkable characters of recent cinema. As Solo, Savané’s natural charisma fills the screen. Solo befriends elderly passenger William, who has a tragic plan Solo hopes to prevent. A story graciously nuanced and complex, director Ramin Bahrani offers a rare cinematic gem. It shows at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The society also screens Seraphine, a fictionalized portrait of an obscure yet fascinating self-taught artist, Séraphine de Senlis (1864-1942), a simple housekeeper whose brilliantly colourful canvases adorn some of the world’s most famous galleries because a German art critic and collector “discovered her” by chance in 1912. The film shows Nov. 29, 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Tickets ($8) at the Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville, 30 mins before screening. www.fundyfilm.ca or 542-5157.

Nation-wide screening

Having crafting a documentary film about child poverty in New Minas, Valley-based filmmaker Nancy Ackerman will bring her new NFB documentary film, Four Feet Up, to the Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville Nov. 24

An award-winning photographer and filmmaker, Ackerman’s feature is an intimate portrayal of child poverty in Canada from the perspective of eight-year-old Isaiah.

Twenty years to the day since the House of Commons promised to eliminate poverty among Canadian children, this film will screen simultaneously across Canada. Ackerman will be on hand for this Valley Premiere.

Freewill admission. All proceeds after expenses go to Feed Nova Scotia and the Isaiah Education Fund

Tickets 30 mins before screening. www.fundyfilm.ca or 542-5157.

Sing in Greenwich

Valley Voices sing a concert at Horton High School Nov. 26. Joining them will be the Horton High Choir and Kings Chorale.

Neptune visits

St. Mary’s Home & School presents Young Neptune Theatre’s “Munschapalooza” Nov. 26 at 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) in the St. Mary’s school gymnasium.

Tickets cost $6 or $20 for a family of four. For ticket info, call 847-4400 or drop in Mainstreet Video RiteStop in Berwick.

Gamelan obsession

After visiting Bali, Ken Shorley is teaching an introductory course in Sundanese gamelan degung at Acadia University, as well as leading a terrific gamelan ensemble there.

The ensemble will be performing a concert Nov. 27 at Acadia's Denton Hall auditorium, starting at 8:30 p.m. (free admission).

Andy & Ariana

Look at them Apples, the Wolfville band Thugs at Bay’s CD release concert, is Nov. 28 at 8 p.m., Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville.

Call out

November 28, A Call for Submission, the Valley’s classic/ hard rock band, will be playing hits all night long at West Side Charlie’s in New Minas. Show starts at 10 p.m., cover is $2 at the door.

Right Top-40

November 28, Joker’s Right’s Top-40 and classic rock is on stage at The Top Hat, Greenwood, 10 p.m., $3 at the door.

Hear Bach

Tickets are now on sale for the Acadia University School of Music’s production of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Nov. 29, 3 p.m., in Festival Theatre, Acadia University.

This production features the Acadia University Chorus, directed by Michael Caines, and the Acadia String Ensemble, directed by Laura Veeze. Soloists include School of Music voice faculty member Christianne Rushton and guest soloists Susan Boddie, Ryan Billington and Ross Thompson. The production will also feature members of Symphony Nova Scotia, as well as students and faculty from the School of Music.

Tickets can be purchased at the Acadia Box Office or reserved by calling 542-5500.

Family of singers

Music from the Ernst Family Singers is presented Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. at the Kentville Church of Christ, 177 Middle Dyke Rd. A freewill offering will be appreciated.

The Ernst Family is a vocal ensemble consisting of nine members, aged nine to adult, singing everything from solos to eight-part harmony. They perform Renaissance, classical, traditional sacred, spiritual and folk music. The family started singing in 2001 and has performed for national TV programs and toured the Maritimes, Eastern U.S., and Ontario. Their first CD, For the Heart, was released in 2004. Two more CDs were released in the fall of 2007.

WEBLINKS

www.ernstfamily.ca

Save the date

The Amadeus Guitar Duo is coming to Manning Memorial Chapel, Wolfville, Jan. 3, 3 p.m. Admission: free.

Nominate old country

The Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame’s 2010 nomination process is now open for 2010 inductees.

Forms can be obtained at www.nscmhf.com and must be received by February 15, 2010.

Nominees must have been born in Nova Scotia.

The 2009 inductees were Dale Verge, vocalist category, and Floyd Spicer, instrumentalist category. Past inductees include Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, Carroll Baker, Rita MacNeil and Joyce Seamone to mention a few.

Any person who is interested in supporting country music is invited to become a member of the NSCMHF. Details can be obtained via info@nscmhf.ca.

Coming up

Nov. 21-22

Affordable Art, Grand Pre Historic Site, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Nov. 19

Buddy Wasisname, Mermaid Imperial Performance Centre, Windsor

Nov. 19-21

Fezziwig Family Christmas Frolic, Festival Theatre, Wolfville, 7 p.m. Sat. matinee

Nov. 22

Spinney Brothers, Horton Performance Centre, Greenwich, 2 p.m.

Until Nov. 22

Dissocia, Acadia Theatre Studies, Denton Hall, Wolfville

Until Dec. 10

Kingston Prize exhibition, Acadia Art Gallery, Wolfville

Until Dec. 12

Bingo: The Musical, CentreStage Theatre, Kentville

Send arts news to welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca