Kenneth MacKenzie

The Montclair Orchestra will reschedule the final concert of their season, Emerging Voices featuring Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists on April 26 at 5pm, in response to the CDC's guidelines recommending that 'all gatherings and events of 50 people and more be postponed until May' due to the Coronavirus.

 The Montclair Orchestra takes its audience on a Scottish journey led by conductor David Chan for their next concert entitled 'Ceud Mìle Faìlte' on March 8, 2020, at Montclair's Central Presbyterian Church (5pm). Violinist Richard Lin, the 2018 Gold Medal winner of the prestigious Indianapolis Violin Competition, will play Bruch's violin concerto, 'Scottish Fantasy'. Lin, described as 'one of the new generation's most promising and gifted young concert soloists' (The Violin Channel), is applauded for his 'ability to draw the audience in... with tremendous subtlety, never lacking direction' (violinist.com). Also featured on the program is Mendelssohn's 3rd Symphony, 'Scottish' and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' celebratory 'An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise', featuring world-renowned bagpiper Kenneth Mackenzie.

The Montclair Orchestra led by Music Director David Chan will open their 5 concert season on September 22, 2019 at 7pm (St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Montclair) with '1001 Nights', an escape to Persia, featuring New York-based Iranian-American composer Behzad Ranjbaran's song cycle Songs of Eternity with rising star soprano, Gabriella Reyes. The original 12th century Farsi poems from the Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam will be read by Montclair's Mahtab Foroughi. The orchestra is then on full virtuosic display, featuring the enchanting music of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, conjuring up images of the sea, a storm, and a young Persian prince and princess.

This summer, Blyth audiences have the chance to see one of Canada's most beloved plays of all time: Mary's Wedding by Stephen Massicotte. Two time winner of the Betty Mitchell Award, and recipient of the 2000 Alberta Playwriting Competition, Mary's Wedding has been seen and celebrated all over the English speaking world in nearly a hundred productions... but never before in Blyth. Directed by Gil Garratt, Blyth's Artistic Director, Mary's Wedding stars Sophia Walker as Mary and Eli Ham as Charlie and plays in Blyth Memorial Hall from tonight, August 5 to September 12.

This summer, Blyth audiences have the chance to see one of Canada's most beloved plays of all time: Mary's Wedding by Stephen Massicotte. Two time winner of the Betty Mitchell Award, and recipient of the 2000 Alberta Playwriting Competition, Mary's Wedding has been seen and celebrated all over the English speaking world in nearly a hundred productions... but never before in Blyth. Directed by Gil Garratt, Blyth's Artistic Director, Mary's Wedding stars Sophia Walker as Mary and Eli Ham as Charlie and plays in Blyth Memorial Hall from August 5 to September 12. Tickets are available by calling Blyth Festival's Box Office at 519.523.9300, Toll Free 1.877.862.5984 or online at blythfestival.com.

The issues of gay marriage and fidelity in marriage in general are explored with humor, intelligence, and a genuine optimism in David L. Ray's Caught, now extended at the Zephyr Theatre through April 3. Fans of Del Shores and Southern Baptist Sissies will see parallels. Growing up Southern Baptist and homosexual do not mix. In Ray's play it's the fundamentalist church that damns to hell any marriage which is not a foundation for family and family values. Putting religion aside, the more urgent message in Caught becomes the support system, the compassion that one should have for another. DeGruccio's expert pace and a top-notch ensemble keep the dramedy riveting and equally entertaining.