The Ottawa Choral Society ended its season Saturday night in a decidedly moonstruck mood. Ballad to the Moon presented a nocturnally themed program heavily weighted toward contemporary works, livened up by a constellation of guest artists. Music Director Jean-Sebastien Vallée joined the choir just last year,
Collaborations between Indigenous cultures and artists from the European classical music tradition are still a rarity in Canada. Sensitivity about appropriation may make some composers nervous, and with good reason. The days when Harry Somers could simply drop a Nisga’a mourning song into his opera
Heather Gibson doesn't do small apparently. Her first programmed season as the executive producer of NAC Presents starts with a fall lineup that will feature about 60 concerts when everyone is signed to a contract. Last season's entire lineup was 67 shows. There are big names: Bruce
Timing is everything and an intriguing conference underway at the University of Ottawa next week is the recipient of a happy coincidence. Called Restorying Canada, the gathering will over three days (May 18 to May 20) "explore key themes, ideas, and issues related to religion, memory,
Want a taste of the zeitgeist? The Ottawa Fringe Festival might be your ticket. While the 55-odd shows that comprise this year’s festival (June 8-18) are decided by lottery, and a festival’s lineup is therefore subject to chance, some repeating elements – stories of sci-fi
It’s as if a new day has slowly dawned across Lucius O’Brien’s greatest painting, Sunrise on the Saguenay, and now all shines more brightly than it has in a lifetime. The painting is a masterpiece at the National Gallery of Canada, deposited there by O’Brien when
Most every human who has ever lived is an abstraction to those of us who are alive today, for we can only imagine them through artifacts and data, through bones and other bits of archeological discovery. We can never really see them, we can never
The winners of the annual Ottawa Arts Awards have been announced by the Ottawa Arts Council. This year's recipients are: 2017 Victor Tolgesy Arts Award: Sylvie Desrosiers 2017 Ottawa Arts Council Mid-Career Award: Jesse Stewart (Interdisciplinary Arts) Finalist: Maura Doyle (Visual Arts) Finalist: Andrew Wright (Visual Arts) 2017 RBC Emerging Artist Award: Gillian King (Visual
The Ottawa Choral Society takes to the stage on May 13 with CBC Radio's Eleanor Wachtel reading poetry and the choir performing moon music. One of the pieces to be performed is by Ottawa composer Laura Hawley, who has been making a name for herself with
Five authors with connections to Ottawa are finalists for the 2017 Trillium Book awards. The list includes: André Alexis, The Hidden Keys (Coach House Books) for the English award; Jean Boisjoli, La mesure du temps (Éditions Prise de parole), Éric Mathieu, Les suicidés d’Eau-Claire (Éditeur La Mèche) and Michèle Vinet, L’enfant-feu
