Musaeus: Norbert Boehm, Mark Rodgers, Graham Tagg, and Maria Geppert

A musical stampede thunders its way through Southminster United Church May 18 and 19 with the final concert of the Conservatory of Music’s Feel The Beat series. A show for all ages, the program offers of menu of animal-themed music, including Carnival of the Animals composed by Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns and How the Loon Got Its Necklace by Keith Bissel.

“Feel the Beat is a four-part series for children that introduces classical music,” explains Breeanne Fuller, Conservatory Coordinator. “Our programs are age appropriate, relatively short and as always, free!” Supported by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Feel the Beat has enjoyed its second successful season this year.

“Carnival of the Animals aligns with the school music curriculum,” Fuller adds. “It’s a piece that appeals to young audiences while at the same time provides a valuable educational experience.” Composed for full orchestra and featuring two pianos, Carnival of the Animals includes 14 movements with delightful titles including Tortoises, Aquarium, The Elephant and Hens and Roosters.

Musaeus String Quartet along with percussionist Adam Mason performs How The Loon Got Its Necklace, a Canadian composition based on an Aboriginal folk legend. “Everyone’s invited to attend and the admission is free. However, you must reserve your seats before the show,” Fuller says.

With shows at 10 am and 12 noon on both May 18 and 19, seats can be reserved over the phone by calling 403-329-2304. “Although the 10 am shows are sold out, there are still plenty of seats available for the 12 pm shows,” she adds.

Fun for the whole family, this Feel the Beat concert is both educational and entertaining! Be sure to book your reservation early.

U of L Members of the National Youth Choir: Jason Ragan, Kristina Alexander, and Aaron Bartholomew.

It’s a rare and quite prestigious event when the National Youth Choir performs in Lethbridge. “We are the only city in Alberta hosting the choir this year,” says Kade Hogg, Music Director for Southminster United Church and host of the concert on May 16 at 7 pm. Hogg, an alumnus of the University of Lethbridge, had the privilege of being selected for the National Youth Choir while at university.

The National Youth Choir is one of this nation’s national treasures, featuring 40 of the best voices in the country. “National Youth Choir represents the cream of the crop of choral singers,” Hogg says. “Four singers are selected from each province; a soprano, alto, tenor and bass; auditioned through their provincial choir association. This year three of the four Alberta singers are from the University of Lethbridge.” Bachelor of Music majors, Jason Ragan, Aaron Bartholomew and Kristina Alexander spend an intensive week rehearsing with the choir in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan before starting out on a week-long national tour.

Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, the National Youth Choir has delighted audiences and provided invaluable opportunity to vocalists biannually since 1984.

“As an alumnus of the National Youth Choir, I’m very excited to have them performing in Lethbridge,” Hogg says. “Southminster United Church is honored that we are the only venue hosting the choir in Alberta. Members of our congregation are billeting the singers during their stay and providing meals in their honor.”

The concert takes place on May 16 at 7pm at Southminster United Church. Tickets are available by calling the church office, (403) 327-3404. Prices are $15 regular and $10 for students.

“This concert is a perfect opportunity for our community to hear this great choir and support our own U of L students,” says Hogg. “Who knows, this opportunity may never happen again in Lethbridge.”

It’s a rare and quite prestigious event when the National Youth Choir performs in Lethbridge. “We are only city in Alberta hosting the choir this year,” says Kade Hogg, Music Director for Southminster United Church and host of the concert on May 16 at 7 pm. Hogg, an alumnus of the University of Lethbridge, had the privilege of being selected for the National Youth Choir while at university.

The National Youth Choir is one of this nation’s national treasures, featuring 40 of the best voices in the country. “National Youth Choir represents the cream of the crop of choral singers,” Hogg says. “Four singers are selected from each province; a soprano, alto, tenor and bass; auditioned through their provincial choir association. This year three of the four Alberta singers are from the University of Lethbridge.” Bachelor of Music majors, Jason Ragan, Aaron Bartholomew and Kristina Alexander spend an intensive week rehearsing with the choir in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan before starting out on a week-long national tour.

Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, the National Youth Choir has delighted audiences and provided invaluable opportunity to vocalists biannually since 1984.

“As an alumnus of the National Youth Choir, I’m very excited to have them performing in Lethbridge,” Hogg says. “Southminster United Church is honored that we are the only venue hosting the choir in Alberta. Members of our congregation are billeting the singers during their stay and providing meals in their honor.”

The concert takes place on May 16 at 7pm at Southminster United Church. Tickets are available by calling the church office, (403) 327-3404. Prices are $15 regular and $10 for students.

“This concert is a perfect opportunity for our community to hear this great choir and support our own U of L students,” says Hogg. “Who knows, this opportunity may never happen again in Lethbridge.”

“We had so much fun, and this activity was so popular last year, we decided to bring back Portrait Pillows for another year!” exclaims Rosalind Jeffrey, program coordinator for the Culture Vulture Saturdays at the University Art Gallery. May 8 from 10 am – 5 pm is a perfect opportunity to view the latest gallery installation and finish a project to take home.

“The exhibition, In The Stillness is on display in the U of L Art Gallery from May 7 through Sept. 10,” Jeffrey says. The exhibit explores rarely exhibited sculptural work from the U of L Art Collection featuring works by Robert Rauschenberg, Alex Wyse, Alan Reynolds and Gordon Ferguson.

After checking out the exhibition everyone is invited to create their own piece of art. “Culture Vulture participants can draw portraits of themselves on broadcloth fabric using an assortment of colours and media. We sew the pieces together and stuff it to create a pillow with the artist’s design,” she adds.

Jeffrey also reminds Culture Vulture participants that the final Culture Vulture Saturday of the season is June 12. “We’ll be sculpting that Saturday as well, with Sculpt-o-rama,” she says. “Everyone can get their hands dirty with recycled art objects, homemade play dough and other creative bits and pieces.”

Culture Vulture Saturdays are always free, fun for the whole family, and a great reason to visit the Gallery and experience the latest exhibition. Refreshments are served and gallery staff are available to answer all your art questions!

Student artwork in a wide variety of media is exhibited throughout Art Dept and visitors can visit excellent facilities, studios and workshops.

U of L Brass Quintet: Gerald Rogers, Keith Griffioen, Trudi Mason, Thomas Staples, and Nick Sullivan.

Explore the “French Connection,” a cross-Atlantic musical exchange between American composers studying in Paris, and French composers influenced by jazz and blues with the U of L Brass Quintet and friends at An American in Paris concert on April 17 at 8 p.m. in the University Recital Hall. This is final concert of the season for the Faculty Artists and Friends series.

“The music featured is either French composed-American inspired, or American composed-French inspired,” says Nick Sullivan, trombonist and music faculty. “The Brass Quintet is playing a transcription of Gershwin’s American in Paris, with other offerings including selections from Porgy and Bess and Debussy’s Gollywog’s Cakewalk.”

The U of L Brass Quintet is a relatively new ensemble to the Department of Music. “We started the ensemble two years ago,” says Sullivan. “We all love brass music, and with the support and talent of players at the university and in the community, it seemed a perfect opportunity to come together and play some great brass chamber music.” Comprised of members Nick Sullivan, Dr. Thomas Staples, Trudi Mason, Gerald Rogers and Keith Griffioen, the U of L Brass Quintet was featured with the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra and for the Music at Noon concert series on campus.

In addition to the Brass Quintet, other friends are taking to the stage to continue the evening’s French/American inspired program. “Dr. Sandra Stringer and Elinor Lawson perform excerpts from the Aaron Copland’s Emily Dickinson Songs and Peter Visentin is performing the Ravel Violin Sonata, the middle movement of which is inspired by Blues,” says Dr. Brian Black, concert coordinator.

Don’t miss this engaging and delightful concert. Get your tickets from the University Box Office at 403-329-2616 or visit the Box Office Monday to Friday from 12:30 to 3:30 pm. Tickets are $15 regular and $10 for students and seniors.

L-R: Kasia Sosnowski, Jane Edmundson (Gallery Preparator), and Jarrett Duncan review artworks for the 1940s exhibition.

“Through my Museum Studies courses, I have come to realize that the artwork on the walls of a gallery doesn’t get magically selected and placed there by elves,” says Jarrett Duncan, who along with fellow museum studies intern Kasia Sosnowski, have just curated the exhibition going into the Helen Christou Gallery on April 16, thereby obtaining first-hand experience about what goes into selecting and hanging an exhibition.

“Curating this exhibition was the best opportunity to put the knowledge I’ve gained in class into practice before graduating and finding myself in the real world,” he says. According to Dr. Josephine Mills, “the internships give students an in-depth sense of the range of work and career possibilities in the museum field while also helping them develop a résumé of hands-on experience beyond the classroom.”

The 1940s exhibition builds connections between the cultural collections in Lethbridge and gives the student interns the experience of curating an exhibition. Both senior students working on a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art History/Museum Studies, Duncan and Sosnowski drew from art works in the U of L Collection as well as objects and archival material from the Sir Alexander Galt Museum and Archives to explore themes from the 1940s.
“Although WWII was a key part of the period, we felt that this subject would be familiar to audiences and other than referring to Bart Pragnell’s military service, we focused on the major developments in artistic practice and on the local connections,” explains Sosnowski. They focused partly on imagery of agriculture, complimented with ordinary objects from everyday life in that decade, as well as on the transformation in artistic styles and imagery that occurred during those years.

The curators included work by major international artists including Jean Arp (Switzerland), Andre Derain (France), and Henry Moore (Britain), and Alberta artists Bart Pragnell include Roloff Beny and Clifford Robinson.

The exhibition complements the Historic Lethbridge Week theme, which also focuses on the 1940s. Historic Lethbridge Week is May 1 – 9.

For more news about the U of L Art Gallery: http://www.uleth.ca/artgallery

Delightfully foolish, witty and thought-provoking, Canadian humourist and master of mirth Lorne Elliott combines dry humour with musical parodies and skits to create an evening of hilarious entertainment on Monday April 12 at 8 pm in the University of Lethbridge Theatre.
Lorne Elliott is a shrewd observer of human nature, who is more than willing to share those observations. Often self-deprecating, sometimes silly and never profane, Elliott’s show runs the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous and is perfect for the whole family.

His Comedy and Music Theatre one-man performance skewers human foibles in a most entertaining fashion. His new material about redefining priorities in view of life events (he had a severe heart attack in 2007) provided a welcome challenge and another opportunity to shake up the perceived wisdom of the world around him.

Last summer, Elliott was in Newfoundland working on the premiere of his play “Culture Shock – The Musical” presented at the Stephenville Theatre Festival. The play had garnered full houses and great reviews across Canada for many years and Lorne was thrilled to have the opportunity of giving it a new dimension with music. Both audiences and the media enjoyed it.
In August 2009, Elliott’s first book “The Fixer-Upper,” a novella based on his hit play “Tourist Trap” was published by Acorn Press from Charlottetown PEI.

For the past 26 years Lorne Elliott has performed from Newfoundland to New York City, from Los Angeles to Australia, is a regular at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival as well as Comedy Variety Specials in Canada and the U.S. For 11 seasons Elliott became familiar to CBC Radio listeners for his comedy series “Madly Off in All Directions.” He always has new and interesting projects on the go, which eventually get shared with audiences.

Lorne Elliott is one funny guy you don’t want to miss. Tickets for Lorne Elliott in Lethbridge on Monday April 12 at 8 pm in the University Theatre are $30 adult and $25 student/senior at the U of L Box Office: 403-329-2616.