alex.browne@peacearchnews.com
Youth talent search
The Roadhouse Live Youth Talent Search returns tonight (May 11) at the eclectically-decorated Roadhouse Grille restaurant on King George Boulevard – not only as recognition of the impressive talents of young Semiahmoo Peninsula musicians, but also as a tribute to one of its most enthusiastic champions, late Roadhouse co-owner Dwayne Jacobson, who succumbed to cancer in February.
Contest semifinals take place at the restaurant every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. until May 25., Semifinalists selected at each Wednesday session will compete for top and runner-up positions at the final concert, June 12 at Blue Frog Studios.
Prizes include gift certificates for musical equipment from Tapestry Music, studio time, career development sessions, and a chance to appear at both White Rock’s Canada Day and Sea Festival events.
Aside from a top age limit of 19, the only other requirement for contestants is that they live south of 40 Avenue and west of the Surrey-Langley border (at 196 Street).
For more information on the contest and how to book performances, email edpeterson@shaw.ca, call 604-728-9334 or visit the Roadhouse Live Facebook page.
Friday jazz
A new entertainment format – a “jazz improv dance party” – will be offered at the Royal Canadian Legion’s Club 240 (Crescent Branch) on three consecutive Fridays starting this week (May 13).
The Modern Jazz Trio (pianist Jay McDonald, drummer Mick Hovan and electric bassist Art Pouchet) will offer a mixed bag of swing, bossa-nova, ballads and blues for a relaxed evening of listening and dancing, augmented by a roster guest vocalists and instrumentalists.
Doors open at 7 p.m., with music from 7:30 to 11:30, and admission ($10 at the door) includes one free beer.
And younger fans of jazz take note – minors are welcome for the first part of the evening at the licensed venue provided they are accompanied by an adult parent or guardian, stay in the dance area (away from the bar and gaming room), and leave by 10 p.m.
Follow-up nights are planned for May 20 and May 27. Accomplished jazz vocalists and instrumentalists who wish to register for the guest artist list should email apouchet@hotmail.com
Club 240 is located at 2643 – 128 St.
Handel Society
The Handel Society of Music, founded in 1966 by its former artistic director, the late conductor Karel ten Hoope, has consistently emphasized musical excellence through its renowned Handel Society Choir – drawn from members of the community – and also with its regular seasons of concerts including a professional chamber orchestra and guest soloists well-known in Vancouver and Lower Mainland classical music circles.
The choir’s upcoming 50th anniversary South Surrey performance this Saturday (May 14) at 7:30 p.m. at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 2250 – 150 St. – under the baton of long-time artistic director Johan Louwersheimer – will continue that proud tradition with an inspiring performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass.
In addition to choir and orchestra, the concert will feature talented soloists Nancy Washeim (soprano), Sonya Sweeney (alto), Josh Lovell (tenor) and Willy Miles-Grenzberg (bass).
Tickets ($25, $20 senior and students) are available from 604-531-3396.
Actor auditions
Attention, young actors!
Peninsula Productions is hiring four actors for an upcoming project – NextGen, a troupe of young actors who will create and perform theatre in and around the Semiahmoo Peninsula this summer.
For the project – a Canada Summer Jobs initiative – the company is seeking actors between the ages of 17 and 30 who were in full-time school in the spring semester and are returning to full-time school in the fall.
For more information, visit www.peninsulaproductions.org, or send a picture and resume to info@peninsulaproductions.org with NextGen in the subject line.
Book launch reading
Scenes from a new novel will come to life in a 15-minute dramatic reading as a highlight of a book launch tea for The House of Wives, by Simon Choa-Johnston, this Sunday (May 15) at 2 p.m. at the Semiahmoo Arts performance space in Centennial Park. Presented by Peninsula Productions and Penguin Random House, the free event will feature copies of the novel for purchase and signing.
Choa-Johnston – known to many as Gateway Theatre’s artistic director emeritus – has written a novel set in colonial Hong Kong in the 19th century, and partly inspired by his own family history.
In The House of Wives, two women vie for the attention of their opium-trader husband in a tale of “friendship, fortune and rivalry.”
The venue is located at 14600 North Bluff Rd. (adjacent to the arena).
White Rock Trad Jazz
The Royal Canadian Legion Crescent Branch 240 will be jumping to the sound of jazz again this Sunday (May 15) as White Rock Traditional Jazz Society’s regular session of live Dixieland/Swing returns to the hall (2643 128 St.) from 2 to 5 p.m.
Featured band this week is Crescent City Shakers led by clarinetist/saxophonist Gerry Green.
Admission (19 and up) is $10 for WRTJS and Legion members, $12 for everybody else).
The venue is located at 2643 128 St.
For more information on upcoming bands visit www.whiterocktradjazz.com or call 604-560-9215.
Youth orchestras
The Surrey Symphony Society will celebrate 40 years of music-making by talented young musicians with a special anniversary concert by the Surrey Youth Orchestra, Intermediate Orchestra and Junior Strings, Sunday (May 15) at 7 p.m. at the Chandos Pattison Auditorium.
Highlights will include the return of founder and retired conductor Lucille Lewis to lead a group of alumni who are travelling from all over the country to participate.
Joel Stobbe will direct the Youth Orchestra and Ben Goheen will lead the Intermediate Orchestra, while Lewis’ daughter Andrea Taylor will supervise the Junior Strings.
Also featured at the concert will be Concerto Competition winner Jeremy Ho’s performance of Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for violin and orchestra.
The auditorium is located at 10238 168 St.
Tickets ($18, $12 seniors, students and alumni) are available online at www.surreysymphony.com or from karen@surreysymphony.com or, by phone, at 778-549-5515.
Ghosts
White Rock’s Gordon Mantle makes a rare return to acting with Langley Players’ production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts.
Well known as stage manager-producer of many Lower Mainland community theatre productions, Mantle plays the supporting role of Engstrand in the 1881 classic – which runs until May 21 at Langley Playhouse.
Directed by Helen Embury, the show, a pioneering work of theatrical realism that raises issues still current today, also stars Mahara Sinclaire, also well-known in South Surrey and White Rock as acting co-director of Peninsula Productions.
She plays widowed mother Helen Alving, while Dayna Thomas plays her maid Regina, daughter of Engstrand and Tony Loyer plays Oswald, Alving’s son (Tony Loyer), whose return home – ostensibly for a public tribute to his late father – raises the ‘ghosts’ of past secrets.
Rounding out the cast as a representative of the voice of morality is Andrew Wood, as Pastor Manders.
Langley Playhouse is located at 4307 – 200 St. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.
Tickets ($15) are available from www.langleyplayers.com/reservations.html
Blue Frog
Coming up at White Rock’s busy performance venue Blue Frog Studios on May 27 is the revue R.E.S.P.E.C.T., celebrating the women of soul and rhythm and blues.
Powerhouse singer Shannon Gaye joins the close harmony blend of sisters Britt and Carly McKillip and an all-star band led by Bulgarian-born pianist-producer Kristian Alexandrov for the concert, which will feature songs associated with such iconic artists as Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Etta James, Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys and Adele.
Also featured are Tim Porter (guitar), Kerry Galloway (bass), Joel Fountain (drums), Bill Runge (tenor sax and Tom McKillip (alto sax).
Check www.bluefrogstudios.ca for full details and information on other events in Blue Frog’s upcoming concert line-up.
The venue is located at 1328 Johnston Rd.; tickets are available at 604-542-3055 or through the website.
Concerts at the Pier
The musical excitement will return to the waterfront this July and August as the city and the White Rock BIA present the TD Concerts at the Pier series for a second year.
Thanks to sponsorship from the TD Bank Group, the series will offer six Saturday evening free concerts with name headliners from the BC music scene, starting July 9 (7-10 p.m.).
The series was a hit last year, highlighting recording artists who were graduates of the PEAK Performance Project.
“We are extremely pleased to be working with the White Rock BIA and the city in delivering such a high quality live music series,” says Bob Bezubiak, branch manager of TD Canada Trust in White Rock.
“We are delighted to support the continued success of the concert series – TD is proud to be be supporting our local community this way.”
A full line-up of performers is expected to be announced this month.
Volunteers needed
Outside the Box, ‘A Celebration of Fibre – Plus’ is commencing preparations for its 2016 city-wide festival. Artistic director Alicia Ballard says OTB is looking forward to expanding the experience this year to all forms of artistic expression – including mixed-media, 3D and food.
To accomplish this organizers are extending an invitation to all local eateries, cafes, and other businesses in the city to get involved, and encouraging new participants, as well as offering a number of volunteer opportunities.
New volunteers are needed for positions in public relations and marketing, acquisitions and sponsorships, media and information technology and videography, as well as volunteers at large.
Those with enthusiasm and appropriate qualifications are asked to contact Ballard at studiogaleria@gmail.com
Artists interested in being involved should visit http://outsidetheboxwhiterock.blogspot.ca
Sunshine at night
There’s something special about open mic evenings – not only are you likely to hear a variety of music that most venue programmers can’t present, but you might just catch an early performance by a rising star, or a surprise appearance by an established performer trying some new material.
Semiahmoo Peninsula open mic king Dennis Peterson – a man with a good eye for White Rock and South Surrey’s growing pool of experienced and developing talents – is offering a regular show, 6-9 p.m. most Saturdays at The Good Day Sunshine Cafe, #100-2950 King George Hwy.
With dinner, drinks and dessert also on the menu, it’s a good venue to settle in for an evening of unexpected musical treats.
Morrison Music Nights
Morrison Cafe’s Morrison Music Nights is a new regular monthly dinner/concert series in Ocean Park, offering a three-course fine-dining-with-music experience in the licensed venue.
On music nights, dinner is served from 5 p.m., followed by the concert, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Tickets for the monthly presentations ($40) are available at the cafe, at 12855-16th Ave.
Billed as, the series is being coordinated by well-known musician Randy Schultz, who said it fits in with his long-standing objective of developing local venues capable of providing viable showcases for chronically under-valued professional musicians, rather than simply offering the more usual ‘open mic’ opportunities.
“Although of some value to developing musicians, these are not appropriate for established players who have years of hard work and practice behind their performances,” Schultz said, noting that low compensation in Metro Vancouver is driving local bands and musicians out on the road, returning home only as part of a tour.
“Morrison Cafe had been wanting to offer entertainment for a while to add to their dinner experience – in conversation with them, they realized that what I was suggesting was the way that their objective could be achieved,” Schultz said.
For more information, call 604-531-3636 or 604-721-0872.
Young actors sought
There’s still a chance for young actors to audition for a highly-regarded theatre company’s 18th season.
Susan Pendleton’s Young People’s Theatre Company of Surrey (SYTCO) has opened up a few spots for boys and girls in grades 7-10.
Contact sytco@shaw.ca for audition information.
Orchestral recruits
The White Rock Community Orchestra has openings for double bass players and string players – especially violinists and violists. New woodwind and brass players are also welcome. For details, call Don Miller at 604-807-0560 or email papadon1812@hotmail.com, or visit http://whiterockcommunityorchestra.org
Symphonists sought
Now celebrating its 30th concert season, the Fraser Valley Symphony is seeking new members in the violin, viola and percussion sections, but also welcomes inquiries from other interested professional-calibre musicians.
Performing alongside world class instrumental and vocal soloists, the orchestra provides an opportunity for auditioned musicians to present a variety of music to audiences throughout the region.
Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings, in Abbotsford.
Contact info@fraservalleysymphony.org or call 604-859-3877.
Singers wanted
Pacific Showtime Men’s Chorus, based in Ocean Park, rehearses Monday nights at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Church, 12953 20 Ave.
The small community chorus of experienced singers is currently seeking new members for all vocal ranges: lead, tenor, baritone and bass.
Offering a big sound in a variety of musical styles, Pacific Showtime has been featured at a many different Lower Mainland events, including show productions, concerts and private functions.
The repertoire is designed to include songs and a singing style that appeal to a wide variety of music preferences, with emphasis on entertainment value, and chance to develop singing skills while having fun and enjoying camaraderie.
Male singers are invited to attend rehearsals to check out the group and, hopefully, join in.
For more information, call 604-536-5292 or email leighand@shaw.ca
