The Gabriel Palatchi Trio kicked off the Rossland Council of Arts and Culture's (RCAC) performance series on Saturday night with a mix of Latin jazz, tango, funk and more.
Gabriel Palatchi is a pianist from Argentina whose music is played around the world. He performed at the Miners Hall with locals Tony Ferraro and Doug Stephenson, who played drums and bass respectively.
The trio had the audience exploding in bursts of applause as they delivered heart-palpitating solos, and even got some spectators to take to the dance floor.
The evening was a celebration of Palatchi's new album, Trivolution, and the final stop on his BC tour. He's now headed east to Ontario and Quebec where he'll play in Toronto, Port Perry and Montreal.
The RCAC has three other musical performances planned for the series:
Saturday, Oct. 24—The John Welsh Band from Mission, BC blends elements of folk, surf, rock, reggae, and Latin music.
Saturday, Nov. 14—The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra from Vancouver, BC plays bluegrass and roots music with influences from flamenco and African percussion.
Friday, Jan. 22—The Remi Bolduc Jazz Ensemble from Montreal, QC offers a magical evening of jazz music in tribute to jazz legend Dave Brubeck.
The lineup reflects RCAC's effort to attract more young people to the series this year.
“The John Welsh Band and the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra we're specifically bringing in to try to appeal to a younger demographic, because a lot of our shows we find don't really appeal to the 20 to 35-year-old age range,” says Tara Kowalchuk, RCAC executive administrator. “So we're bringing those musicians in specifically to try to get some more interest from that age range.”
This year the series also has a bonus performance.
The Vancouver Theatre Sports League will perform on Friday, Oct. 23.
“They're going to do an afternoon workshop for youth where they can learn how to do improv, and then they'll be a community performance that night,” says Kowalchuk.
The workshop will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and the performance will be at 7 p.m. Both will be at the Miners' Hall.
Musical performances will also be held at the Miners' Hall and doors will open at 7 p.m. with an anticipated start time of 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at Out of the Cellar in Rossland and the Charles Bailey Theatre box office in Trail.