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Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Gets Wordy With Verdi

Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Gets Wordy With Verdi

If I told you wife Elaine and I voluntarily spent two hours of our Friday evening listening to choral outpourings of grief, funeral marches, incendiary strings, and convulsing drums, you might think we attended one of the darkest musical dramas on the planet. On the contrary, we became engrossed in a Latin Mass for the Dead that is classically known and universally revered as Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem.” Many have called it an opera in church clothing, while others say it…

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Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Flies High Performing the Music of Harry Potter

Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Flies High Performing the Music of Harry Potter

On the last Sunday of October, the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO) magically transformed itself into a spellbinding 4-H Club and saluted the wondrous wizardry of Harry, Hermione, Hedwig, and Hogwarts. That was the scene, three days before Halloween 2018, as Kelowna Community Theatre had a packed cauldron for an afternoon matinee of the OSO Family Special: The Music of Harry Potter. As expected, there were bewitching costumes worn by orchestra members as well as Musical Director Rosemary Thomson channeling Professor Sybill…

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Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Brings its A-Game for the Three B’s

Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Brings its A-Game for the Three B’s

On the last full day of Summer 2018, the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO) kicked off its 59th season with a splendid triple-threat rendition of “Bach to the Future” at Kelowna Community Theatre. Actually, Bach was just the first German composer out of the barn on this rainy Friday evening. His works were followed by those of Beethoven and Brahms and culminated in the concert’s marquee banner, OSO: The Chase Wines Masterworks I – the Three B’s! These Three B’s were…

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Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Gets Slean and Mean

Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Gets Slean and Mean

Big ups to the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO) for sharing the Kelowna Community Theatre stage on the first Saturday night of April with a Canadian songstress who absolutely captivated the house with a mezzo-soprano vocal style I’d define as good “Slean” living. All puns aside, Saskatchewan’s Sarah Slean was the guest artist who describes herself as a dare-to-dream Renaissance woman, singer-songwriter, keyboardist, poet, visual artist, and occasional actress. She pretty much put all those creative skills on display during a…

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Getting A Rocky Mountain High in the Okanagan

Getting A Rocky Mountain High in the Okanagan

On Good Friday Eve 2018, there was nothing like a little musical sunshine on my shoulder to make me happy and glad to be at Kelowna Community Theatre. This was a Rocky Mountain High kind of gathering, an evening celebrating the music of John Denver in such an artistic way that a packed playbill was needed to keep track of all the tooters, fiddlers, bassists, vocalists, and players. Since this was also opening day for Major League Baseball (Toronto lost…

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Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Serves Italian and Wins Gold

Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Serves Italian and Wins Gold

Dueling trumpets during a Vivaldi concerto. That’s not something you often see on a mid-February Friday night in the central Okanagan. But this was no ordinary night as Kelowna Community Theatre welcomed the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO) and a busload of phenomenal friends for a show-stopper entitled Viva L’Italia! – from the Chase Wines Masterworks Series. From Baroque concertos to the noble tradition of opera, Italian is known as the international language of music. During this two-hour-and-20-minute gig, the riveting…

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Handbells Highlight The Okanagan Symphony Orchestra’s Ringing In of the Holiday Season

Handbells Highlight The Okanagan Symphony Orchestra’s Ringing In of the Holiday Season

Question:  What do you get when you cross OSO with OHC on a FRI night at KCT three days before XMAS? Answer:  One joyous Christmas symphony and handbell chorus hallelujah expertly boxed, wrapped, and clanged before a packed house. Translation – the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO) and Okanagan Handbell Chorus (OKC) teamed up on the Friday before Christmas at Kelowna Community Theatre for a two-hour holiday mash up that was a newborn-king-inspired joy to the world. O Holy Night, the…

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Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Aces its French Connection

Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Aces its French Connection

On the final Friday of November, the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra brought a certain power and panache to its live orchestral performance of The French Connection – Masterworks II at Kelowna Community Theatre.       This buzz worthy concert celebrated the lush and visceral music of the French romantics before the impressionists came onto the scene. The program, as selected by OSO Music Director Rosemary Thomson, included these diverse works:  Les Troyens Chasse royale et orage (Royal Hunt and Storm)…

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Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Spooktacular Was a Macabre Mash of Treats

Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Spooktacular Was a Macabre Mash of Treats

They did the mash…….they did The Monster Mash……. it was an Okanagan Symphony Orchestra and Chorus smash…..it caught on in a flash. Good goblins, that was a frightfully good Halloween SPOOKtacular performed with devilish depravity at Kelowna Community Theatre a few nights ahead of trick-or-treaters taking over the streets. The sold-out house was treated to a Saturday night special 2-for-1 deal that saw the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra and OSO Chorus performing together on one stage. Saying the KCT stage was…

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Ballet Kelowna and Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Get an Early Start on Sesquicentennial Celebrations

Ballet Kelowna and Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Get an Early Start on Sesquicentennial Celebrations

World premieres in Kelowna. They were super suite.         On the first Thursday of May, Kelowna Community Theatre was the gracious host site of several world premieres all neatly choreographed and composed into a visual parade of ballet and music. On this balmy eve in front of a packed house, Ballet Kelowna and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (OSO) joined forces to present Canadiana Suite: A Sesquicentennial Celebration and tribute performance in honor of Canada’s 150th anniversary. Yeah,…

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