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The Muddle: Still Waiting on a Fix By Kim Barlow Something is happening in the woods of Gaspereau. Follow a bumpy dirt lane and you’ll find a straw-bale barn tucked in the trees where a series of albums with startlingly high production values have begun emerging. The Muddle’s new release, Still Waiting on a Fix, is the latest. Jeff Hennessy is a music professor and the dean of arts at Acadia University, the kind of career a musician leaps at for obvious reasons: security, stability, and it pays actual money! But the performer is still the heart of the beast….
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Fundraiser Duo Recital to Showcase Mother-Daughter Virtuosity Submitted Clarinetist Jossée MacInnis and her mother, soprano Susan Dworkin, will perform together on December 18 in a duo recital that is sure to impress. The selections chosen for the concert will include classical Christmas music and baroque, romantic, and post-romantic composers including Schubert and Spohr. Jossée MacInnis was born in Montreal but was raised in Wolfville. She was awarded scholarships to study music at Mount Alison University in New Brunswick, and then at Western University, in Ontario. Now at l’Université de Montréal, she is about to begin her doctorate in clarinet performance….
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Winter Songs at the Old Hall By Kim Barlow Every few weeks the kids and I go for a drive across the province to see my parents, and along the way we pass several cute little wood-sided community halls. Some are decrepit and for sale, others are still in use, their signs announcing jam sessions and fundraisers. These little halls are cheap to rent, and cozy, and many have fully-equipped kitchens. After twenty years out west and up north, I notice the slower economy here has spared this province from a certain amount of the worst kind of development, like…
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Stolen Art Songs By Janet Kirkconnell Great violin-makers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Stradivari and the Guarneri, designed their instruments (cellos included) to mimic the human voice. Students of stringed instruments are often urged by their teachers to make their instrument sing. Yet the cello is considered to be the most voice-like of all instruments, acoustically and expressively, with its range from basso profundo to one that competes with coloratura. Even the timbre of the cello is quite close to the timbre of the singing voice. The ultimate step? A concert of songs ‘sung’ by a cello. The…
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Acadia Performing Arts Series Presents Mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah with Pianist Robert Kortgaard By François Côté Julie Nesrallah is a sensational singer, actor, and broadcaster who has been captivating audiences with her engaging personality and her rich, expressive voice. She has appeared with leading opera companies, symphonies, and chamber music ensembles across North America and around the world. In Wolfville, her “Favourite Things” will form a very entertaining program including Italian and French art songs as well as excerpts from her signature lead role in Bizet’s opera, Carmen. Ms. Nesrallah is a proud recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for…
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Dean Brody and Jessica Mitchell: East Coast Tour Lands in Wolfville! By Mike Butler Imagine the East Coast without music, or the vast variety of shows, music festivals, and intimate concert venues. We are so fortunate to have amazing music at our disposal through the internet, but the feeling of a live show can’t be beat. Just off the heels of the Alan Doyle concert and the Deep Roots Music Festival, the Valley is being treated to another song-filled concert extravaganza on October 26 when Dean Brody and Jessica Mitchell hit the Convocation Hall stage in Wolfville! Dean Brody is…
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An Atlantic Young Artist at Sunday Music in the Garden Room By Janet Kirkconnell Sunday Music in the Garden Room on October 28 will bring an emerging artist to the series, Halifax native Andrew Son, piano. Music is ostensibly on the sidelines for him, yet is the underlying ground bass of his life. While he is in his second year studying neuroscience at Dalhousie University, his minor is in music, and he is the student of Lynn Stodola and Peter Allen. He is also a gifted violinist. In short: he excels brilliantly in all he does. In 2015, Andrew represented…
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Q & A with Craig Cardiff Singer-Songwriter Craig Cardiff takes the stage at Acadia’s Manning Memorial Chapel in Wolfville on Wednesday October 10 at 7pm. The Grapevine: What was your childhood or earliest ambition? Craig Cardiff: A doctor. Our grandma, who was a nurse all her life, lived with us and indoctrinated the grandkids. GV: What is your favourite piece or song and when did you first hear it? CC: “It’s The End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)” (REM). Grade seven on a Walkman. GV: How did you get started in the music industry?…
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