You can catch some emerging opera talent on stage at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts this weekend.
Burnaby Lyric Opera is launching its 2011/12 season with Opera Potpourri, a concert of highlights from its upcoming season of operas and its Sunday afternoon concert series.
Among the singers will be soprano Arianna Sovernigo of Burnaby. (Some of you may remember her from a feature that ran in the Feb. 19 Burnaby NOW, when she was appearing in Burnaby Lyric Opera's Don Giovanni.)
She'll be joined on stage by talent from around the Lower Mainland: Linda Baird, Nicole Blom, Martin Sadd, Andrzej Jeziorski and Andrew Greenwood, along with the Burnaby Lyric Opera chorus.
The concert is directed by David Boothroyd.
It's all set for 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23. Tickets are $15 - call the box office at 604-205-3000.
Shadbolt Centre is at 6450 Deer Lake Ave.
For more about Burnaby Lyric Opera, check out the website at www.burnabylyricopera.org.
NATURE SONGS
Art lovers, be sure to make some time to stop by the Deer Lake Gallery this month.
A new exhibition, Nature Songs, has just opened at the Burnaby Arts Council's gallery.
The exhibition explores the beauty of nature through the work of artists Lauraine Russell and Annie Chong.
Lauraine, in her artist biography, says her talent was awakened as a result of an accident in 1994.
Shortly after being released from hospital, she felt moved to pick up a paint brush, seeing it as a means to shift the focus away from constant pain. She works in acrylic paint, but her work is often mistaken for watercolour.
Annie was raised in Malaysia with a Chinese cultural background and has had a passion for art since her youth, when she was often found making crafts and drawing.
Since moving to Canada in the early 1980s, she's been working with many local artists and continues to find inspiration in the scenic wonders of the city.
Nature Songs is on until Nov. 6. The gallery, at 6584 Deer Lake Ave., is open Tuesday to Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.
See more online at www.burnabyartscouncil. org.
STEPPING OUT
It promises to be a fiddling-and-stepdancing good time when April Verch takes to the stage at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
The Canadian fiddlersinger-songwriter-stepdancer takes to the stage in the Studio Theatre at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5.
A press release promises that you'll be struck first by April's energy, then drawn in by her winsome singing, the elegance of her phrasing and the depth of the repertoire that runs the gamut from bluegrass to Brazilian to Celtic to Canadian folksongs.
On her eighth CD, That's How We Run, Verch is exploring Southern traditions from the Appalachian mountains, side-by-side with Canadian tunes.
I've never had the pleasure of hearing her play, but I have to say that a quote she included in the bio on her website has me hooked:
"The world is this amazing puzzle that we can't fully understand, and music is the joy that pulls it all together and helps us make sense of it," April says.
Now how can you not appreciate that sentiment?
Check out more about April on her website, www.aprilverch.com.
Tickets are $32. See www.shadboltcentre.com or call 604-205-3000.
Do you have an item for Lively City? Send ideas to Julie, jmaclellan@burnaby now.com. She also blogs about the local arts scene - check it out under Opinion at www.burnabynow.com, or follow her on Twitter, @juliemaclellan.
