The Bulkley Valley Concert Association (BVCA) is excited to announce their 57th season of presenting superlative entertainment in Smithers.
The excitement begins at the Della Herman Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 4 when Rita Chiarelli returns to the Valley! Some may remember her “leave-it-all-on-the-floor” Sunday afternoon performance at Midsummer Festival some years back.
Chiarelli is Canada’s most highly acclaimed female roots and blues artist. With a JUNO award and four subsequent JUNO nominations, she is known across Canada as the “Goddess of the Blues.” Rita is a gifted songwriter and an entertaining performer, but it is her soaring three-octave voice that sets her apart from her peers, inspires awe and often tears in her audiences, and causes critics to gush.
The one thing Chiarelli is not, is predictable. In addition to her blues recordings, over the past five years she has released Cuore, a recording of traditional Italian folk songs, which won the World music category at the prestigious Canadian Folk Music Awards; Uptown Goes Downtown Tonight, a highly acclaimed collaboration with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra; and Music From the Big House, an award winning documentary movie filmed in Louisiana, at Angola prison, which premiered in New York and L.A.
In the past decade Chiarelli has won every major Canadian blues award, including multiple Maple Blues awards, CBCs Great Canadian Blues Award, Toronto Independent Music Awards, Hamilton Music Awards, Manitoba Blues Society and the Hamilton Blues Society’s Lifetime Achievement Awards. Most recently Rita was awarded the prestigious Maple Blues ‘Blues With A Feeling Award’ for Lifetime Achievement.
For her Smithers appearance, Rita is joined by an all female trio: Emily Burgess, guitar; Lauren Falls, double bass; and Elena Kapelaris on tenor sax.
Individual tickets for Rita Chiarelli, the season opener, are on sale now at Mountain Eagle Books: Adults $25, seniors (60-plus) $20, youth (under 18) $16.
A limited (125) number of season tickets are on sale until Oct. 4: $90 for all five fabulous shows in the 2018/19 series. Individual ticket sales for performances after Oct. 4 will commence on Oct. 5 . You can guarantee yourself a seat by buying season tickets today. BVCA reminds patrons that tickets are fully transferrable — if you can’t make a show, share your ticket with someone else. However, you won’t want to miss even one show of the outstanding line up:
On Wednesday, Oct. 24, The B.C. World Music Collective, the largest, most diverse group the BVCA has ever presented, will fill the stage. The BCWMC brings together musicians from Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Africa, and London, who now make their home in B.C. The collective is comprised of Adonis Puentes, Celso Machado, Tonye Aganaba, Kurai Blessing, JP Carter, Locarno (Tom Landa, Pedro Mota, Robin Layne, Liam MacDonald, Nick La Riviere, Kalissa Landa, JeanSe LeDoujet) and First Nations (Stō:lo/St’át’imc/Nlaka’pamux Territories) rapper, Ostwelve.
BVCA delights in the return of Tara Cheyenne Performance on Friday, Nov. 16 to present a brilliant one-woman modern dance piece laced with humour. To further BVCA’s commitment to increasing Indigenous content, Métis dance artist and choreographer Jeanette Kotowich warms up the stage for TCP with Eloise, bringing insight to the practice of honouring traditional territory.
On Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019, the Cheng2 Duo, a brother-sister piano/cello combo, will display a refreshing approach to making classical music accessible to new audiences of all backgrounds, steeped in a rare balance of infectious joy and mature interpretations.
Raine Hamilton is young, classically trained and creates resonant, acoustic chamber folk music with an otherworldly edge. On Saturday, March 23, Raine’s trio performs in English and French and the instruments will include guitar, violin, cello, double bass & hurdy-gurdy!
Season brochures are available at Mountain Eagle Books, the Smithers Public Library, the Tyhee Market in Telkwa and other outlets around the valley. Contact the BVCA at bvca.me, facebook.com/BVConcertAssociation, or bvconcertassociation@gmail.com.
Further information on the artists is available at ritachiarelli.com, bcworldmusiccollective.com, taracheyenne.com/i-cant-remember-the-word-for-i-cant-remember/, cheng2duo.com, and rainehamilton.com.
BVCA wishes to acknowledge the assistance provided by our funders, partners and sponsors: The Province of BC, BC Arts Council, BC Touring Council; Government of Canada, Canadian Heritage; Made in BC, Dance on Tour; H&R Block & The Interior News.
–Submitted article.
