Early Music Festival

First Presbyterian Church

10025–105 St.

Friday, May 6   8 p.m.

Saturday, May 7   9:30, 11:15 a.m. (Workshops);
2 p.m. (Concert), 4 p.m. (Masterclass) and 8 p.m. (Concert)

Holy Trinity Anglican Church

10037 – 84 Avenue

Sunday, May 8   1 p.m. (Masterclass) and 8 p.m. (Concert)

Ever since her emigration to Edmonton from her native Netherlands in 1995, cellist Josephine van Lier has dreamed of the formation … Read More

Local Classical Duo Prepare for Carnegie Hall Concert

Tanya Prochazka, Cello; Sylvia Shadick-Taylor, Piano
Holy Trinity Anglican Church (10037–84 Ave.)
Saturday, March 19, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $15 students/seniors, $20 for adults

Both Tanya Prochazka and Sylvia Shadick-Taylor have been at the forefront of Edmonton’s classical music community for decades. Prochazka, who originally hails from Australia, moved to Edmonton in … Read More

Three  Shows  for  the  Price  of  One  to  Celebrate 
St.  Patrick’s  Day

Royal Canadian Legion, Norwood Branch

82 Street and 111 Avenue

Friday, March 4, 2011   8:00 p.m.

$25 cover admission

Local Celtic fiddler Lizzy Hoyt, accompanied by Keith Rempel on bass and guitarist Chris Tabbert, will be providing the middle set of a three-part St. Patrick’s Day celebration of all things Irish – especially the music.  She will be providing selections from her latest CD Home as well as a few traditional Irish folk classics.  Lizzy puts on a vibrant and energetic … Read More

In anticipation of SEE columnist and wonderful Jazz artist Don Berner's album release party, February 26th at the Yardbird:

"THE DON BERNER SEXTET INVADES CALGARY-LIVE AT THE BEATNIQ! ”is the third album release as a leader from Saxophonist Don Berner.   Distributed through the Dynasty Records label it will be available in January at HMV and other select stores throughout Canada in January 2011 as well as Transworld Records Stores in the U.S.! It is also already availablethrough e-music outlets including iTunes, Napster, EMusic, Yahoo, Amazon, Rhapsody and more! The new album includes access to an online DVD The making of the Don Berner Sextet Invades Calgary and is a live recording in the tradition of decades of Jazz!

 … Read More

When I first heard him play in a non-descript nightclub in St. Albert during the Jazz City Festival in 1997, there were only about five or six individuals in the place.  I saw this scruffy-haired kid play boogie-woogie piano like I had never heard it played before.  But the amazing musicianship and rhythmic control of the pianist was overwhelming.  I knew at that moment, that that unknown (at the time) jazz keyboardist would soon be hitting the big stages of Canada.

Since that event, German-born Michael Kaeshammer has clearly shown his musical mettle.  He would have been barely out of his teens at the time, and his family had just moved from Europe to Victoria only a year or two before then.  Now making his home in Toronto, Kaeshammer … Read More

On November 2, the Winspear is hosting an unusual project.

Henderscheetz is the vision of one woman, Grace Sheetz. Following her husband’s premature death, she returned to songwriting and embarked on a journey which eventually finds her filling Edmonton’s premiere concert hall debuting the album that is the results of her efforts. All proceeds from the concert and the record, called 39, will go to the charity Samaritan’s Purse.

So, what led Grace to embark on this project? She’s “doing it in honor of [her husband] Warren [Henderson]’s memory,” Grace explains, but “we’re donating all the money to Samaritan’s Purse.

“They have a fabulous water project called ‘Turn on the Tap’. A scientist from Calgary figured out how to layer sand and organic … Read More

The Edmonton FolkFest is about more than just the music, it’s about the whole experience. For me a main part of the experience is the colour lottery, a time when hundreds of people gather in a small, cramped corral. Each person is given a lottery ticket with a performer’s name on it and a number. If your performer is called first, you get to be in the first group to run your tarp. If your performer is the second called, you are in the second group etc. The number on the ticket indicates what number you are in your group. 

On Saturday and Sunday the colour lottery starts at 7 in the morning, which means that you have to wake up at 6 after staying out until 12:30 am at Gallagher Park. For many people, this probably sounds crazy... and you know what? They’re … Read More

My name is Isaac.

I’m 13 years old, and I’ve been a regular FolkFest-goer since I was 18 months old.

In 2007 I delved into the media side of the FolkFest by getting a media pass at the Calgary Folk Festival and writing for my newspaper called Die Zeitung that I started in 2005. The next year I got a job writing for The Edmonton Journal at the Edmonton FolkFest and last year I wrote for Die Zeitung and the blog that I had started called 'Who’s Left and Who’s Leaving'.

This year, I will be writing regular updates from the festival for SEE’s Gig Bytes Blog. I will also have an article published in next week’s SEE Magazine. 

Of all the main stage line-ups at this year’s Folk Festival, tonight’s is by far the one that I am most looking forward to. Four very … Read More