The Burnaby Lyric Opera is continuing its Sunday Afternoon Concert Series on April 21 with highlights from Giuseppe Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco (Joan of Arc).
This is Verdi's seventh opera, which will be sung by four young opera singers from the Lower Mainland: Gina McLellan Morel, Matthew Chittick, Andrey Andreychik and Sinead Plunkett-Blazi.
David Boothroyd is musical director/conductor at the 3 p.m. show at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, at 6450 Deer Lake Ave. Tickets are $15, available from the box office, at 604-205-3000.
Gamma Garage artists celebrate 10th anniversary
Local artists Sheila Chowdhury, Pat Sexsmith, Dianne Yard and Wilma Cook have some art to show you.
The Gamma Garage Artists 10th anniversary show, at the 232 North Gamma Ave. studio on Capitol Hill runs from noon to 5 p.m. on both Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21. Art on display will include painting, drawing, print-making and more. For more information about the show, call 604-298-1196.
Finnish culture
For music and history lovers, this is an event that's sure to satisfy both.
The Canadian Friends of Finland club of Burnaby/Vancouver is hosting a public lecture and musical afternoon to highlight Finnish composer Jean Sibelius on Sunday, April 21 at 2 p.m. at the Scandinavian Centre in Burnaby.
Glenda Goss, the Finlandia Foundation Lecturer of the Year and a professor of music history at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, will present her talk, Sibelius and Finland's Awakening, which is based on more than two decades of research. The Runeberg Chorus with Kaoru Henry, soprano, will perform selections by Sibelius.
Tickets for the lecture and musical performance are $12, available only by cash, at the door.
Refreshments will be served.
The Scandinavian Centre is located at 6540 Thomas St.
Not since Dorothy Livesay's Women's Eye: 12 B.C. Women Poets was published in 1974, and D'SONOQUA: An Anthology of Women Poets of British Columbia, in 1979, has there been an anthology of contemporary B.C. female poets published in this province.
This month, a new one with 77 contributors is being launched here in Burnaby. The book, edited by Susan Musgrave, is called Force Field: 77 Women Poets of British Columbia, published by Mother Tongue Publishing.
The launch on April 26 will run from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, at 6450 Deer Lake Ave., featuring poets Daniela Elza, Heidi Greco, Shauna Paull, Onjana Yawnghwe, Heather Hailey, Jen Currin and Lakshmi Gill, as well as special guests Maggie Witzsche, Pat Boileau and M.P. Detina, with choreography and performance by Salome Diaz.
Blooming fun at Rhodofest at Deer Lake next month
Springtime means flowers in bloom, and in Burnaby, rhododendrons are the best of the bunch next month.
The city is marking a quarter century of Rhodofest on Sunday, May 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Deer Lake Park.
The 25th rhododendron floral celebration is a free event that offers a variety of entertainment, mini-workshops, horticultural and nature tours, plant sales and interactive arts activities for all ages. Highlights will include a silent auction, as well as artisan and pottery sales.
The Rhododendron Festival is produced by the City of Burnaby in collaboration with the Burnaby Rhododendron and Gardens Society.
For more information about the festival visit www.brags.ca.
