{"id":33653,"date":"2023-10-05T18:19:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T22:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33653"},"modified":"2023-10-05T18:20:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T22:20:01","slug":"voices-of-the-world-converge-on-aurora-cultural-centre-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/voices-of-the-world-converge-on-aurora-cultural-centre-this-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices of the World converge on Aurora Cultural Centre this fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Voices of the World will continue to ring out through Aurora this fall as the Aurora Cultural Centre prepares for a busy fall performing arts season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building on their Voices of the World theme, which was announced this past spring, the performing arts season will begin October 20, when Joe Sealy takes the stage, supported by Thompson Egbo-Egbo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToronto-based jazz legend Joe Sealy is joined by long-time collaborator Paul Novotny on bass for a special piano concert supported by Thompson Egbo-Egbo with an opening set,\u201d says the Centre. \u201cAn Order of Canada recipient, Joe won a Juno Award for his Africville project that captured an enormous piece of Canada\u2019s Black Cultural history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November\u2019s performances will kick off with Basia Bulat on November 4, followed by pianost Philip Chiu on November 16, and Aurora Cultural Centre favourite David Francey on November 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith an electrifying voice and lyrics like silver arrowheads, Basia Bulat has become one of Canada\u2019s most conspicuous talents,\u201d says the Centre. \u201cJuno-nominated and short-listed for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize, she often appears solo in gigantic halls, winning over crowds with an autoharp or charango, stomping feet and two mighty lungs. Her massive talent has also been recognized at scale: her songs have been adapted for major performances with symphony orchestras, and she\u2019s been tapped for prestigious tributes to Leonard Cohen and The Band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip Chiu\u2019s appearance with the Centre is part of the Great Artist Music Series, a program spearheaded and supported by long-time Cultural Centre patrons \u2013 and Grammy-winning music producers \u2013 Bonnie and Norbert Kraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chiu, a Juno-winner, \u201ccaptivates listeners with pianistic brilliance, engaging storytelling, and a welcoming stage presence that favours openness, authenticity, and connection with audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cImmerse yourself in a mesmerizing journey through the timeless themes of Beethoven\u2019s Moonlight Sonata intertwined with melodies of Chopin, Debussy, and Canadian composer John Burg.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scots-born Francey, on the other hand, is described as an artist who \u201cchronicles the lives of the working Canadian with humour, and \u2018open hearted\u2019 singing style and acute observations in his storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing together this fall\u2019s music program is Derek Andrews, Performing Arts Producer for the Aurora Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have inherited the legacy of some great, hard work done by Jane Taylor in particular and I wanted to produce programming that was familiar and people are comfortable with, and at the same time try to push the envelope a little bit,\u201d he says, referring to Ms. Taylor, who continues her role at the Centre in a communications capacity. \u201cThere are some acts that are hitting on the folk genre, several people who are, I think, going to be well-received like David Francey, but there are a couple of innovations with Windborne and Ariko in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI shifted the emphasis and the presentation style and pulled out an emerging talent-approach that had been there, where we were expecting new faces to carry the box office, so to speak, and I\u2019ve created shows where there\u2019s a support act in several cases, which is our way of introducing new faces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this end, at their December 2 Aurora performance, Windborne, a group with \u201cdeep roots in the traditions of vocal harmony\u201d will be supported by Suba Sankaran and Dylan Bell of Freeplay while, on January 27, \u201cvelvet-voiced nu-jazz piano keyboardist\u201d Elizabeth Shepherd will be supported by Charlotte McAfee-Brunner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rounding out the performance season will be the aforementioned Ariko on December 16, and The Last Waltz on January 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Lafontaine family band that draws on Franco-Ontario folk tradition, three sisters join mom and dad Lefaive in a romp through fiddle frenzy and vocal harmony,\u201d says the Centre of Ariko, whose performance is billed a Family Series Holiday Show. \u201cPerforming as a family, Nicole, Kelly and Jill front Ariko (French for haricot snap bean!) in a joyful roots and zydeco blend of foot stomping good times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Last Waltz, a musical celebration of The Band, was brought together by Orillia musician Lance Anderson to salute one of Canada\u2019s most iconic groups, The Band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis thirteen-piece project celebrates a remarkable repertoire and sound that supported Bob Dylan but broke out to sell millions of recordings, with a Scorcese captured film finale in San Francisco. The all-star cast features vocalists\u00a0Chuck Jackson\u00a0(Downchild),\u00a0Johnny Max,\u00a0Matt Weidinger\u00a0and\u00a0Quisha Wint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Andrews, having The Last Waltz near the end of the fall\/winter season is particularly poignant following the death of guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t help but draw attention to The Last Waltz,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of an all-star show with many artists who are bandleaders of their own projects, and celebrates great repertoire. I think that with Robbie\u2019s passing, it\u2019s even more poignant because they give their own interpretations for that great reservoir of Canadian song-writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets for the Aurora Cultural Centre\u2019s performing arts season are on sale now individually or as part of their Voices of the World \u201cpassport.\u201d For more information on these performances, including venues, visit auroraculturalcentre.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Voices of the World will continue to ring out through Aurora this fall as the Aurora Cultural Centre prepares for a busy fall performing arts season. Building on their Voices of the World theme, which was announced this past spring, the performing arts season will begin October 20, when Joe Sealy takes the stage, supported […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8KN","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 23:14:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}