Oceanside Classical Concerts Society

01/03/2025

Happy New Year to all of our Facebook followers from the OCCS Board.

As we look to 2025 let music bring us together, help us reflect upon who we are, where we have come from and what lies ahead.

The arts and music transcend languages, cultures, and borders and helps exchange ideas and styles while sharing in the artistic vibrancy born from our diverse experiences and traditions.

The future of classical music lies with our youth so please enjoy this video on the making of a child prodigy.

They never cease to amaze us with their virtuousic talents and steeliness under pressure, but what really makes a prodigy? Are they both with it? Do they hav...

10/14/2024

Can you imagine….the 2024 premier of a recently discovered Mozart composition: 'Serenate ex C,' also known as 'Ganz kleine Nachtmusik'!

Unveiled in Leipzig and composed during his youth, this 12-minute gem was lost for over 250 years.

Discover the newly found Mozart composition, 'Serenate ex C,' also known as 'Ganz kleine Nachtmusik'! Unveiled in Leipzig and composed during his youth, this...

10/10/2024

A huge shout out to the Parksville Qualicum Community Foundation for their generous donation of $14,500 to our Instrument Lending Program. The grant will cover storage rental, instrument repair and refurbishing,and media advertising cost for three years. Photo is of our Vice President, Joe Straka accepting the cheque from Betty Price of the Foundation.

06/11/2024

Olivia Crowhurst, a Nanaimo violinist, is our 2024 OCCS Scholarship winner. She will be performing with our two other scholarship winners Paige Kaps (2021) and Sabrina Blaase (2023) at Knox United Church on Saturday, June 15 (7pm). Jeremy Potts, violinist from Victoria headlines the evening. Tickets are $30 ($15 for students) from Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/emerging-artist-and-occs-scholarship-winners-concert-tickets-805321457157?aff=oddtdtcreator

06/11/2024

June 15th is the first special event of OCCS’s 10th Anniversary season at Knox United Church. We are featuring young musicians from the island….a great opportunity to hear talented Emerging Artists. Violinist Jeremy Potts (from Victoria) will play sonatas by Brahms, Ravel & Faure. And OCCS scholarship winners from Oceanside area (Paige Kaps, Sabrina Blaase, and our 2024 winner) will present a selection of works. Tickets are just $15 for students & $30 general admission and are available through Eventbrite or the MAC box office. For more information: https://oceansideclassicalconcerts.ca/special-events

05/23/2024

CANINE CONDUCTORS?
Have you ever thought of how it would sound if dogs conducted an orchestra? Check this out!

05/04/2024

Our 10th Anniversary Season is coming up! Subscriptions for the four concert series of our 2024-2025 celebratory season are now available to the general public. For more information and to book online, go to https://oceansideclassicalconcerts.ca/24-25-season or in person at the MAC Box Office 133 MacMillan St, Parksville.

04/18/2024

Are you (or someone you know) graduating from high school this year and planning to enter a post-secondary music program?

The 2024 OCCS Music Scholarship ($2,500) is open for applications. The deadline to apply is April 30th.

For more information and an application form: https://oceansideclassicalconcerts.ca/scholarship-program

04/15/2024

musica intima

One critic has said: “Not your ‘typical’ choral performance: musica intima broadens creative boundaries…” And how we were treated to that on Friday April 12th!

The conductor-less group share leadership and move positions on stage after each piece. Each member of the ensemble then has the unique opportunity to hear different voices beside them for each composition and encourages them to interact spontaneously with the audience. This connection between the stage and the audience was clearly felt by many.

The haunting beauty of the music, the meaningfulness of the words and the group’s obvious joy in what they were singing engaged us all.

We couldn't have had a more fabulous ending to our 23-24 Season.

Subscriptions for the 24-25 season (our 10th Anniversary) go on sale to the general public May 1st!

03/21/2024

We are looking forward to your concert with us on April 12th!

03/15/2024

Our Artistic Director, Calvin Dyck, is coming to Black Creek with his very talented Abbotsford Youth Orchestra on Sunday March 17th at 7pm. It’s at Black Creek United Mennonite Church, 2277 Ens Rd., Black Creek. Definitely not something to miss!

UPCOMING CONCERT on Vancouver Island!
Sunday, March 17th, 2024 7pm

Black Creek United Mennonite Church
2277 Enns Rd, Black Creek BC

Featuring:
Abbotsford Youth Orchestra directed by Calvin Dyck

Admission by Donation

02/26/2024

What an evening! Bridge & Wolak performed such a varied and exciting program on Friday night (Feb. 23/24) that subscribers were totally enthralled. Starting from their classical roots, the duo showcased their love of jazz and tango as well as brilliance in arranging the classics for their unique instrumentation of clarinet, digital accordion, and piano. Their rendition of J.S. Bach's Sicilienne (originally for flute), "Digital Stardust" took us all on a truly beautiful and emotional journey into space while highlighting the range of instruments that the digital accordian can reproduce.

01/21/2024

Our Artistic Director, Calvin Dyck, was interviewed recently by our friends at the Vancouver Island Symphony. It helps us learn a little more about him (from his favourite food to his favourite performer.

A series of 8 questions with VIS Concertmaster, Calvin Dyck What place were you born and where do you live now? CD I was born in Vancouver and I now live in Abbotsford. What is your favourite era/genre of music to perform? CD I really love the great classics from the Romantic Era. Who are your music...

01/21/2024

The power of music and playing a musical instrument is beautifully portrayed in this short doc from the LA Times. The focus, a musical instrument repair shop in Los Angeles, reminds us of the repair shops in Nanaimo and the Oceanside area who gift their time to OCCS so that we can provide working instruments under our Instrument Lending Program. https://oceansideclassicalconcerts.ca/instrument-lending
Thank you to the OCCS subscriber and volunteer who shared this beautiful story with us.
Arbutus Music Rufus Island Guitar Shop High Note Musical Services Fine Tuning Musical Instrument Repair Nanaimo

In a nondescript warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain over 80,000 student musical instruments, the lar...