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Fire & Grace take North Okanagan stage

NOCCA and Creekside Theatre present unique collaboration
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From Bach to tango, Celtic to American fiddle, a unique collaboration is coming to the Okanagan.

The North Okanagan Community Concert Association and The Creekside Theatre are delighted to collaborate in co-producing a concert by Fire and Grace on Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Creekside Theatre.

Fire & Grace is a unique collaboration between guitarist William Coulter and violinist Edwin Huizinga. These virtuoso performers explore the musical landscape of classical, folk and contemporary traditions from around the world. Fire & Grace’s repertoire is vast, ranging from Bach to Vivaldi, tango to Celtic tunes, traditional Bulgarian to American fiddle tunes and waltzes, all played with a sense of discovery and commitment to the elements of passion and virtuosity—fire and grace—found in these diverse traditions. The concert program will include music by J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Astor Piazolla, music from Riverdance, traditional Irish and Bulgarian selections and more!

Performing both baroque and modern repertoire, Canadian violinist Edwin Huizinga has appeared alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Mike Marshall, and Stevie Wonder, and has been featured as a symphony soloist. He will make his conducting and soloist debut with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra this season. Edwin is a founding member of the baroque ensemble ACRONYM which has released eight full-length albums of previously unknown and unrecorded baroque music, and tours extensively with Tafelmusik.

“I was born and raised on a farm just outside of Guelph, in Puslinch, Ontario. When I was five years old my mom encouraged me to start playing violin. At the age of fourteen I began studying with one of my biggest mentors, the legendary Markus Furious, otherwise known as Mark Fewer,” said Huizinga on his career.

“I attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, graduating with a Master’s degree in violin performance. At the Conservatory I had the opportunity to be concertmaster of both the baroque and main orchestras for several concerts. When I moved to San Francisco, we dedicated every single Sunday evening to performing chamber music at a bar on the corner of 22nd and Velencia called the Revolution Café. There lies the birth of Classical Revolution. “At the moment, I call Toronto my home, although anyone that knows me well might nickname me a wandering minstrel. I have been traveling a lot the last few years performing with baroque, folk, rock, contemporary, classical, improvising, jazz, and Celtic musicians from all over the world.”

Coulter is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy award-winning master of the steel-string guitar. Collaborations have been a mainstay of his career with classical guitar virtuoso Benjamin Verdery, Irish flute wizard Brian Finnegan, among others. Coulter has been Music Director for Tomaseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas since 1998, and has performed with the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Apollo’s Fire and many other ensembles. In March 2016 he debuted Celtic Journey, a full-length pops concert with the Omaha Symphony featuring Irish singers, dancers, musicians and storyteller.

Tickets are $34.95 and are available from Kelowna Tickets, www.kelownatickets.com or 250-862-2867.

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Jennifer Smith

About the Author: Jennifer Smith

Vernon has always been my home, and I've been working at The Morning Star since 2004.
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