The Great Canadian Songbook is a show that highlights some of the greatest Canadian songs of the past and present taking audiences on a musical journey from Bon Vista to Vancouver Island.
And the show arrives in this part of Vancouver Island on March 29 to perform at the Tidemark Theatre.
Featured performers Ken Lavigne, Tiller’s Folly and Diyet, combine stories, music and projections, to provide the audience a stylistic overview of Canada’s greatest hits. The show features music by Leonard Cohen, Stan Rogers, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Buffy St. Marie, Anne Murray and Stompin’ Tom Connors in addition to contemporary artists including Sarah McLachlan, Bare Naked Ladies, Blue Rodeo and original songs by the Great Canadian SongBook performers.
Lavigne delivers an exciting blend of a classical tenor sound with modern style and his versatile performances command ovations at every performance.
Lavigne started his career shortly after leaving the University of Victoria, where he studied music. His focus was purely classical at the time, pursuing opera roles and Oratorio concerts while honing his craft with frequent study in New York and the U.K. Since then, he has earned credits with symphonies and orchestras across Canada and the U.S. from prize-winning performances in Ireland to the special honor of performing for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in his hometown of Victoria B.C. He was also a founding member of the talented tenor trio group Romanza.
With roots that stretch from the mists of the Pacific Northwest, across the sea to the British Isles,and now moving into the heartland of American music, Tillers Folly has tapped into something timelessly fresh and refreshingly sincere.
Fueled by their unfailing passion and enthusiasm for the music, Tillers is continuously experimenting with different phrasing, tones and textures while recording with some of the most exciting and innovative musicians and singers in the business today as they continue to evolve as artists. Names like the phenomenally talented front man of the iconic group NewGrass Revival, John Cowan to Bob Babbitt (most famous for his work as a member of Motown Records studio band, the Funk Brothers, from 1966–1972, as well as his tenure as part of MFSB for Philadelphia International Records) and the late legendary session keyboardist Larry Knechtel have moved Tiller’s music to a new level of mastery.
Born in a tent, raised in a small cabin in a village on the shores of a glacial lake in the mountains of the Kluane region of the Yukon, Canada, Diyet proudly embodies her Southern Tutchone, Japanese, Tlingit and Scottish roots with a musical presence that is equally diverse and unique.
Diyet is Alternative Folk, Roots, Country and Traditional Aboriginal with catchy melodies and stories deeply rooted in her Indigenous world view and northern life. Diyet’s live performances provide an intimate and uplifting experience as she invites her guests into a soundscape of rhythm, melody and storytelling. With a resonant voice that captures the spirit, Diyet is a contemporary artist whose music leaves listeners with a sense of hope and possibility. Her lyrics paint a vivid picture of her home and travels, and touch upon the happy and heartbreaking things that happen in her world, exposing her interpretation of a northern reality: hard, raw and will break you if it can, but at the same time is always beautiful, gentle, strange and intensely alive.
Sponsored by the Campbell River Mirror, Coast Discovery Inn and What’s On Digest, the Tidemark Theatre proudly presents, Great Canadian Songbook at the Tidemark Theatre on March 29. Tickets are $27 Members, $32 Non-Members (plus applicable taxes & fees) and can be purchased at the Box Office Tuesday through Friday between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tickets are also available online.
