As a teenager, in 1969, John Scofield had a chance to go to the Woodstock festival. It was happening just down the turnpike from his home. "I had a ticket that I had bought, but I had a day job after school," the legendary jazz guitarist said in
Festival Pontiac Enchanté is a chamber series at the beautiful Venturing Hills Farm concert space in the municipality of Pontiac about a half hour northwest of Ottawa. Founded by Carson Becke, the festival has evolved into a year-round concert series. The next concert features an ambitious programme
Two small ensemble classical concerts at Canada Scene this weekend presented a striking contrast between the experimental and the traditional. One was innovative, inclusive and thoroughly engaging, despite some flaws in the execution. The other was technically impeccable, but stuffy and unoriginal. On Saturday afternoon, the
In his 68-plus years Roddy Ellias has played a lot of music and released his share of CDS, but the one he has just finished recording is "the best thing I've ever done." Ellias recorded the as yet untitled disc with one of his regular playing
For 10 years Propeller Dance has been showing how anyone can join in and dance. The celebrate the decade, ARTSFILE asked Propeller's co-artistic director Renata Soutter about her newest choreography, Living the Desirable Life, why Propeller started and where it hopes to go. Q. Can you
At what point does an opera revival turn into a permanent burial? The Canadian Opera Company and NACO have put in a heroic joint effort into resurrecting Louis Riel, Harry Somers’ 1967 opera about the visionary but ultimately doomed Métis leader and father of Manitoba.
The National Gallery of Canada has announced the donation of $2 million from Fred and Elizabeth Fountain of Halifax, Nova Scotia. As part of the contribution, $500,000 will go to the gallery’s national outreach program which helps ensure the sharing of visual arts from coast-to-coast-to-coast. The rest, $1.5
In a year of major initiatives at the National Arts Centre, the creation of a department of Indigenous Theatre is one that stands out. And that makes the choice of the person to be the first artistic director of the new theatre a major development, one that is full
When the opera Louis Riel opens Thursday night, along with the stars on the Southam Hall stage, there will be an Ottawa family. Keith, Theresa, Marissa and Jordyn Hendricks are Metis and they're all part of the Land Assembly that stands in silent witness (and participation in)
The 2017 Polaris Prize long list was unveiled at the National Arts Centre on Tuesday. It included A Tribe Called Red's newest hit album called We Are The Halluci Nation. Also on the list were albums by Leonard Cohen, Gord Downie, The Tragically Hip, Drake, The
