Arts Scene

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Carmina Burana on stage

The Acadia University School of Music is presenting Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana Sunday, April 6 at 3 p.m. in the Festival Theatre, Wolfville.

This afternoon concert will feature the Acadia University Chorus and Symphonic Band and the Kings Chorale.

Of this work Orff said, “with Carmina Burana, my collected works begin.” He’s probably better known now as a music educator and instrument designer.

Orff composed his scenic cantata composed between 1935 and 1936. It’s based on 24 poems found in the medieval collection, Carmina Burana. The best-known movement, "O Fortuna", opens and closes the piece.

This great masterpiece is being performed in a School of Music joint production with Bill Perrot’s community choir.

Featured soprano and baritone soloists are Susan Boddie and Ross Thompson. Boddie teaches at the Maritime Conservatory in Halifax and is a graduate of the Manhatten School of Music while Thompson is well known to local audiences as a teacher and performer.

Over 200 musicians will fill the stage at the Festival Theatre for one performance only, and will be led by chorus conductor Michael Caines.

Caines says it was music professor Mark Hopkins who came up with the concept of a joint production. “It has been done in Halifax several times.”

The joint choir will act almost as a percussion section, Caines notes. “You can hear Orff’s mentor Stravinsky in the music. It’s challenging with the sheer volume of text, but fun. This choir is up to the task.”

According to Caines, the text is all in Latin or Old German. All the participants are excited about putting Carmina Burana on stage. “It’s a rare musical event,” he adds, which requires two grand pianos on stage. The production will be videotaped and Caines hopes it can be used for recruitment to the school of music.

Tickets ($10 students/seniors, $15 adults) are on sale at the Acadia box office. Get there early as this all-school joint event will sell quickly.



ArtCan reopens

ArtCan owner artist Ron Hayes’ shop and café in Canning reopens today after a long winter hiatus.

According to Hayes, the seasonal operation will soon have an art workshop schedule up. He’s also busy booking performers like James Gordon, Laura Smith and Morgan Davis.

Chef Nelson Penner will bring his talent with organic food to the café kitchen.

Unique screening

Next week Fundy Film will present Strand, Under the Dark Cloth, a stirring portrait of the influential photographer and filmmaker, Paul Strand.

Award-winning Halifax filmmaker John Walker will attend and discuss his Genie Award documentary with the audience after the screening. It will take place at the Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville Wednesday, April 9.

Although his influence on the history of photography has been nothing short of profound, Strand (1890-1976) remains a curiously shrouded and paradoxical figure. While passionately devoted to humanity, he was happiest in the isolation of the darkroom. A pioneer filmmaker, (Manhatta, Native Land, Heart of Spain, The Wave), he found the process of collaboration painful.

Strand established himself in New York in the 1920s as a master of light and structure, with his now famous photo of Wall Street inspired by the forms and movement of European modernist painters such as Matisse and Picasso. His close-up portraits and landscapes were equally profound.

John Walker's Strand: Under the Dark Cloth is a documentary that is "beautifully crafted, thoroughly researched and intimately recounted," according to Variety Magazine, with generous amounts of Strand's most famous photographs, clips from his films and collaborators including Fred Zinnemann, Cesare Zavattini and Georgia O'Keeffe.

The film is a valuable and comprehensive introduction to the life and work of Paul Strand suitable for both art historians and general viewers alike. It will start at 7 p.m. Tickets ($8) available 30 min before screening. www.fundyfilm.ca or 542-5157.

Acadia print series

A new exhibition of prints from the 18th and 19th century from the permanent collection at Acadia University will be displayed from April 4 to June 30. The opening is this Friday at 7 p.m.

A community art day is planned for April 5. It will run from 1–4 p.m.

Gallery director Laurie Dalton has scheduled a curator’s talk Friday, May 9 at 1 p.m.

Wolfville branch holds sale

The CFUW in Wolfville will hold its 41st annual book sale this Friday, April 4.

Books, music, puzzles, games and magazines and a special new Christmas boutique will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Then on Saturday, it will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Wolfville Lions hall.

Proceeds will go for scholarships and sponsorships in the community.



Minglewood here

Nova Scotia legend Matt Minglewood will be back at the Evergreen for shows Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5. The Friday show is now sold out, but organizers are hoping to open up a few more spaces there by offering all those who have bought Friday tickets the opportunity to transfer to Saturday.

Matt has just returned from another trip to the Far East where he and George Canyon, among others, met and entertained the Canadian military.

Tickets are $20 for this East Margaretsville event. For information and reservations call 902-825-6834.

evergreentheatre@gmail.com

At Horton

Grease runs again this weekend, April 3–4, at Horton High School in Greenwich. Show time is 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 students and seniors.

Coming up

April 4

Music on the Road, NKEC students, Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville, 8 p.m.

April 5

N.S. Country Music Hall of Fame meeting, Wolfville Legion, Main St., 11 a.m.

Puccini’s La Boheme, Empire Theatres, New Minas

Steve Dawson and Jenny Whiteley, Union St. Café, Berwick

April 7

Kings Community Band, Wolfville Baptist church, 7 p.m.

April 19

Bob Dylan tribute show, Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville, two shows

Until May 17

Don’t Dress for Dinner, CentreStage Theatre, Kentville, 8 p.m., preview show April 3, matinee May 11 at 2 p.m. Reservations 678-8040.

Send arts items to: welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca