MEDIA RELEASE: April 11, 2022 – Chamber Music Kelowna Presents New Series: “Concerts in the Community”
Kelowna, BC – Kelowna’s arts scene will be enlivened this spring with a series of informal, accessible chamber music concerts. Highly-trained professional musicians, many of them with local roots, will be taking their instruments into the community, turning up in unexpected places with fun and surprising programs.
Chamber Music Kelowna is always looking for new ways to reach audiences outside the traditional concert hall. With the help of funding from the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, the Society has assembled a set of concerts running from April through June that will bring a wide range of classical and more contemporary music to the Kelowna community in very accessible locations and formats. All the concerts except one are free (by donation), and the sole ticketed event is a very reasonably-priced fundraiser for community outreach in Kelowna. The concerts will all happen in public spaces like coffee houses, libraries, and churches.
Two energetic young members of the Kelowna arts community have been the organizational and programming force behind the series. Andrew Stauffer of the Rotary Centre for the Arts, who is also a Director of Chamber Music Kelowna, has shouldered the organizational burden. The artists and programming have been brought together by Nicholas Denton Protsak, a Kelowna cellist and composer whose classical music education and career are bringing him international recognition.
The first concert is on Thursday April 14, at 7:30, in the Atrium of the Rotary Centre for the Arts. Although tickets are free (by donation), they must be reserved ahead of time, and this event is already almost at full capacity. The next event will be on Sunday May 8, on the rooftop of Bean Scene (371 Bernard Avenue), with a cello duo providing “Music for Mother’s Day.” On May 11, at 7 pm, there will be “Music at the Gallery”: in collaboration with the new Okanagan Chamberfest, a concert for five strings (violin, 2 violas, and 2 cellos) will be presented at the Vernon Public Art Gallery, 3228 31 Avenue, Vernon.
Likely the largest event of the series will occur on Friday June 3, at 7:30 pm, at the Metro Community Church on Ellis Street. For “Expect the Unexpected!” the ticket price will be $15, supporting the Metro Church’s homelessness outreach programs. This will be a lively musical evening crossing a number of genres, with clarinet, cello, and piano.
On Thursday June 9 at 7:30 pm in the Rotary Centre Atrium, two of our homegrown stars will perform together in the aptly named “Homecoming” concert – Jaeden Izik on piano and Nicholas Denton Protsak on cello. Saturday morning, June 25, families with young kids can have fun with stories and music starting at 11:00 am, when the Sycamore Quartet appears at the Okanagan Regional Library on Ellis Street. Finally, the series of Concerts in the Community will conclude on June 30, with an evening of cello duets in the sunshine beginning at 7 pm at Bright Jenny Coffee, 984 Laurel Avenue.
Capacity is limited at some of these events, and although admission is free (except for the June 3 concert), advance registration may be required. Full details are available on the Chamber Music Kelowna website at chambermusickelowna.ca.