Join us for this energetic classical music performance series featuring the best of Canadian and international artists.
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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
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
CANINE CONDUCTORS?
Have you ever thought of how it would sound if dogs conducted an orchestra? Check this out!
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.
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
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!
We are looking forward to your concert with us on April 12th!
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
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.
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...
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...
Here is a very special Christmad gift from our Artistic Director, Calvin Dyck and the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra.
What a joy to film one of the most beautiful Christmas ca...
Onstage selfie in Parksville BC with Oceanside Classical Concerts Society!!!! Wow! What a blast! Thank you so much :)
DOGS GO TO THE PHILHARMONIC
The Calgary Philharmonic had an unusual audience last week with 21 BC and Alberta guide dogs-in-training listening to Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski at one of their rehearsals.
Check out their reactions in this CTV clip: https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/an-absolutely-fabulous-opportunity-calgary-philharmonic-orchestra-performs-for-service-dogs-in-training-1.6618848
as well as a CBC article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/service-dogs-calgary-philharmonic-orchestra-jack-singer-1.7009919
The four members of the Eliot Quartett were also a delight to host.
Maryana & Dmitry are parents of a two-year-old boy and away from him for the first time. Their wistful expressions portray how much they look forward to next week’s homecoming, but they know that he’s very happy with their two Mums as caregivers while they travel.
Michael babies his cello so much while travelling that “Sylvia” (christened so by OCCS Director, Don Dempson) gets her own seat on the airplane - holding up all the other passengers while he belts her in.
Alex (who is enjoying his food with Don Dempson and Michael looking on) is proud to be back to his home province and deftly acts as tour guide.
We hope to see more of this delightful group in Parksville in the future.
The Eliot Quartett, (Maryana Osipova (1st violin), Alexander Sachs (2nd violin), Dmitry Hahalin (viola) and Michael Preuß, cello) delighted our sold out audience on Monday Sept 25th at Knox United Church.
Not only listening to, but watching this quartet is a joy. Over the nine years they have been playing together they have, in a sense, become one.
Each puts their whole body into their playing and the music is expressed in not only sound but movement and facial expression.
MID-ISLAND MUSIC LOVERS:
Oceanside Classical Concerts has a diverse and exciting lineup for our 9th season at Knox United Church in Parksville and there are a limited number of season subscriptions available.
The four-concert season begins with the award-winning classical Eliot Quartett. Based in Germany, they will play in Parksville on the evening of September 25th.
The highly unusual Quartetto Gelato bring their musical virtuosity and humour to the stage on November 22nd.
The duo of Michael Bridge (accordions and piano) and Kornel Wolak (clarinet and piano) integrate traditional acoustic instruments with digital technology on February 23rd.
Last, but not least, the Vancouver choral ensemble of musica intima conclude the season on April 12th.
No individual tickets are sold – the entire series is sold on a subscription basis (but subscribers are encouraged to share their subscriptions with friends when unable to attend a particular concert).
For more information and/or to purchase a subscription go to the Society’s website at OceansideClassicalConcerts.ca
What an inspiration!
At 108, Colette Maze is still playing piano. "It's my life", she says "(my piano) is like my friend, I need to feel it, listen to it...and then what's most difficult is to maintain a routine.
She has been playing for over a century and has just released her 7th album! https://fb.watch/m6sSZsGrzS/
The Kaimerata ensemble, led by Kai Gleunsteen returns to Parksville for two concerts on August 14 and 15. These concerts will highlight the music of Robert Schumann, exploring the music in the context of his life and loves.
Schumann's marriage to Clara was fraught with difficulty but their love triumphed and the two went on to have 8 children. The composer suffered from severe depression all his life and was diagnosed with schizophrenia (then called dementia praecox). Some say that he had multiple personalities, each creating a distinct style of his music. He was only 46 years old when he died after multiple su***de attempts.
Tickets are available: online or in person at the MacMillan Arts Centre (133 McMillan Street, Parksville).
Join us for this energetic classical music performance series featuring the best of Canadian and in
Do you have a musical instrument gathering dust in a cupboard? We can get it reconditioned/repaired and then lend it to deserving music students in the area who might not otherwise be able to afford an instrument.
Here are two students from Errington Elementary School who were recently loaned instruments so that they could not only practice over the summer, but throughout their time at the school.
For more information on the program: https://oceansideclassicalconcerts.ca/instrument-lending
We think you'll enjoy an upcoming concert (June 27th @ 1:30pm) with the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra at Knox United Church.
What does a music teacher do when a top student decides to quit because practicing all by himself feels lonely? Well…if you are the Artistic Director of OCCS, Calvin Dyck, you start a youth orchestra! The Abbotsford Youth Orchestra (AYO) not only provides the opportunity for students to pay great music but also socialize with their peers.
Check out how fun they have - dancing while playing their instruments! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1HLNKMeOso
Tickets are available on Eventbrite
or at Close To You or Fireside Books in Parksville.
Knox Presents...The Abbotsford Youth Orchestra on Tuesday, June 27th @1:30 p.m. Doors open at 1:00 p.m. and tickets are $20.00 /$10.00.
Our President, Pam May Straka, spoke recently to the Northwest Bay Probus Club. She spoke about OCCS - Past, Present, & Future. It was an interesting retrospective and as well as highlights of the upcoming 23-24 Season and a look into our 10th Anniversary in 24-25.
What has Brahms got to do with heavy metal?
Check out what top violinist, Rachel Barton Pine says about the influence that Brahms' Violin Concerto had on the lead guitarist of The Scorpions, Uli John Roth. She also talks about how Vivaldi is the favourite classical composer of James Hetfield (Metallica). Listen to Rachel play Metallica's guitar solo "One".
Rachel Barton Pine is one of the world’s top violinists – but she’s also a life-long fan of rock and heavy metal and was a member of the thrash/doom metal band Earthen Grave.
The Ad Mare Wind Quintet not only played a wonderful concert at Knox United Church for OCCS on Sunday Feb 26, but they entertained school children in the area on Monday Feb. 27. Such a great way to introduce young people to classical music.
Last year’s scholarship winner, Caiden Meyer, told us “I have had many performing opportunities and have met so many amazing musicians. I would not have been able to do this without the help of this scholarship and I am so grateful.”
High school seniors in mid-island who are planning to enter a university music or private performing arts program in 2023 are encouraged to apply for the OCCS 2023 scholarship. https://oceansideclassicalconcerts.ca/occs-scholarship-program/
Annual scholarship of $2,500 supports mid-Island aspiring musicians
Sad news - https://mailchi.mp/d90a62adae50/sad-news
Borealis String Quartet Stepped Up - https://mailchi.mp/132249b66378/borealis-string-quartet-stepped-up
Performance Venue Interstate Knox United Church, 345 Pym Street
Parksville, BC
V9P1C8
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CANINE CONDUCTORS? Have you ever thought of how it would sound if dogs conducted an orchestra? Check this out! #polishradioorchestra #dogconductor
The pandemic has affected zoo animals as well as people. This short video shows how the animals were delighted by a pianist who composed and performed a piece especially for them.
The MAC - McMillan Arts Centre
Mcmillan Street
