05/24/2022
The Galiano Concert Society: a History
The Galiano Community Hall, built in 1925-27 by the Galiano Club, has long been a main music venue on the island. The 1926 Club Board of Trustees President “was instructed to attend to the purchase of a piano as soon as conditions allowed.” A piano was eventually acquired in the early 1930s and in the decades that followed many musical performances happened here in the Hall: singing during school concerts, band playing during dances, vocal and instrumental recitals.
Fast forward to 1998 when a group of interested islanders decided to form the Galiano Concerts Committee, a registered society that would present a season of four or five musical concerts featuring both local and elsewhere talent. Among those involved with this formation were Ann Duncan and Elisabeth Bosher. Ann was a talented singing islander; Elisabeth, the recently retired Galiano School principal whose inspired directing of several student- performed musicals had garnered much praise.
Soon the name was changed to The Galiano Concert Society (GCS) and the society was receiving funding from provincial and federal agencies: the BC Touring Council, the BC Arts Council, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund. This support helped to keep ticket prices affordable and allowed GCS to pay for world-class musicians. The impresario (and bassoonist) George Zukerman assisted the GCS with connections to talent agents, to individual performers, and to the Piano Six association (accomplished Canadian pianists receiving federal assistance to bring classical music to rural areas).
Thus, even during the GCS’s early years an amazing variety of musical talent came to the Community Hall stage—the internationally-known Quebecois pianist, Marc-André Hamelin; the Ontario fiddle group The April Verch Band; the BC-based classical instrumental group Borealis String Quartet; the singer/composer Todd Butler; the jazz group Marc Atkinson Trio—to name just a few. Local talent was included: the guitarist Brad Prevedoros; the vocal group Mother of Pearl. Early GCS board chairs Zona Macdonald and Gabi Farr introduced the practice of the Board providing a home cooked meal to the performers—a post-concert feast, an opportunity for Board members and performers to chat.
A level of excellence has continued in the past two decades with performers such as: pianists Michael Kaeshammer, Jane Coop, Jon Kimura Parker, Sara Davis Buechner, Robert Silverman, Ian Parker; vocalists Suzie LeBlanc, Russell Braun; instrumental groups New Orford String Quartet, Joe Trio, Victoria Chamber Orchestra; cabaret artists Celso Machado, Tango Paradiso; and many, many more. Several of these musicians have returned again and again, today’s Ian Parker being one. The venue for most GCS concerts has been and continues to be the historic Galiano Community Hall. A couple of other venues have also been used over the years—the Moonshadows B&B and the Whaler Bay Lodge—each containing an excellent piano! In cooperation with the Galiano School the GCS has from time to time scheduled “second” performances in the school itself, allowing the students to hear, talk and learn from experienced musicians.
When Dana Weber became board chair in 2005, he developed a planning framework to ensure a balanced season of soloists, ensembles, and various instruments. Sheila Borman used her administrative skills when she became chair in 2012 and took on the increasingly complicated work of grant applications.
One of the directors, Sheila Midgley was particularly keen to increase concert attendance and worked with Borman on various initiatives to make that happen. They began to offer flexible tickets that could be used for any concert, enabling part-time residents to buy a quantity of tickets without committing to any particular schedule. The printed program guides were expanded. Roadside signboards appeared at Sturdies Bay and in front of the Hall.
Significantly, CGS began to present only classical music. Sheila Midgley wrote a regular promotional column in the Active Page and began inviting local visual artists to display their work during concerts. Another director, Sher O'Hara, increased our presence on social media.
By the time Sheila Midgley became Chair in 2015, these changes had increased attendance from an average turnout around 35 people, to typically 70 or 80, comfortably filling the Hall.
In 2017, a violinist who had performed on our stage four years earlier was negotiating for a return engagement. On learning that the current chair was leaving the role, Jasper Wood offered to work with GCS as the series programmer. As a professor of violin and chamber music at the UBC School of Music, and a first-rate performing violinist, Jasper uses his many connections to select artists to perform in our concerts. In his continuing role as Artistic Director, Jasper Wood reprises George Zukerman’s role in earlier times.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a halt to seasonal programming with the last concert being Dehcho: A Musical Journey along the Mackenzie River, held in November 2020. Today’s concert marks the return to regular concerts for the 2022-23 season.
The Galiano Concert Society is an entirely volunteer-run organization. The Board of Directors, aided by a few additional volunteers, do everything from planning and publicizing the concerts to setting up the hall and providing refreshments. The Society is always looking for new help. If you are interested in being involved, please contact us at: [email protected] or Galiano Concert Society.
The 2022-23 GCS Board of Directors are: Michael Baker (Chair), Carol Wilson (Treasurer), Brian Russell (Secretary), Jasper Wood (Artistic Director), and Allan Forget, Will Guthrie, Joan Henriques, Sher O’Hara, Lucy Reksoatmodjo (Directors).
—Allan Forget with contributions from Dana Weber, Sheila Borman, Sheila Midgley
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