On Saturday, February 15, the Northcoast Performers Society presented the fifteenth annual Celtic Night at the Lester Centre of the Arts, where performers from all over the region showcased an arrangement of cultural talents.
It started off with the low of hum of the bagpipe, contrasted with the piercing high notes the talented Chris Schooner played on the Scottish Pipes while he traveled down the stairs on the Lester Centre’s auditorium. Schooner came to perform from Terrace.
Gaelforce, consisting of Andrew Goulet, Barry Smith and Glen Edwards, took the stage next, performing with young fiddlers Ruby Ferlaino and Brock Giffin. Ferlaino has been playing the fiddle for one year, and Griffin has been playing for two.
Helen Moore, Ian Cullen and Dayrdrai Carberry switched it up, and brought some dancing to the performance, first showcasing the Sword Dance, a dance that has been recorded occurring in Scotland as early as the 15th century. The trio then performed the Highland Fling, a dance that was developed in the Highlands of Scotland. Both dances were accompanied by Schooner on the Scottish Pipes.
Telkwa group, Talisker, consisting of Ruth Lloyd, Richard Grice, John de Boer, Dave Conway, Tirion Grice and Carson Tworow, performed next. Some members of the group played at the first-ever Celtic Night back in 1997. The group performed many songs, including an original of theirs called The Northern Passage, a protest song against letting the Northern Passage be used as a “cheap and dirty highway” for super tankers.
Finishing off the first half of the show was Spectrum City Dancers Emma Burton, Jessica Bruce, Emily Cavin, Isobel LeBlanc, Emily Lewis, Sydney Stenset and Justina Vendittelli.
After an intermission, Celtic Night organizer Ken Shaw and his Irish dance students Kaori Millar, Helen Moore and Neneng Milano performed The Muskeg Jig, which was choreographed by Shaw.
Anna Lamb-Yorki then performed a vocal solo to the traditional Irish song, The Moorlough Shore.
First it was the Muskeg Jig, and then it was the New York Jig, when Spectrum City’s own Isobel LeBlanc performed a solo choreographed by Carol Murphy.
The final group of the evening was Twisted String from Smithers, which consists of children and teens Madeline Lough, Emily Clogher, Carson Tworow, Daniel Oliemans, Jason Oliemans, Kiri Daust, Emma Cuell, Tirion Grice, Siani Grice, Stefan Bichlmaier and Ilan Farkvam. Twisted String was created by Canadian fiddler/composer Oliver Schroer back in 2003 as a unique teaching and performing concept for young musicians. The performers showcase their musical skills playing fiddles, the keyboards, the bass, the trumpet and the drums together onstage, while incorporating attention-grabbing, bright coloured costumes.
