Another week in Rossland has rolled by with an incredibly high calibre of performances, namely Jake’s Gift at the Miners’ Hall and La Cafamour at the Rouge Gallery, not to mention musical acts all around town, Wizard of Oz getting ready at RSS and Ski Bum making its way to Trail for this weekend.
Julia Mackey, despite more than 400 performances of her solo act of Jake’s Gift, had audiences (and herself) in tears both Saturday and Sunday, brilliantly capturing the personalities and relationships of a precocious child, a wizened grandmother, and a grizzled Canadian veteran returning to Juno beach 60 days after D-Day to face a long-buried past.
For the first time since the Rouge Gallery concert series began last fall, Nicola Everton and La Cafamour Quartet’s performance on Valentine’s Day sold out and organizers expressed sadness that their success forced them to turn people away at the door.
Those who made it in were privileged to experience a romantic evening serenaded by top notch musicians. Rossland’s Carolyn Cameron played violin alongside her sister, Angela Snyder, who flew in for the performance from Virginia. These women grew up together in Saskatoon and have played with several symphonies and orchestras.
Alexis More, originally from Victoria and now living and teaching in Crescent Valley, held the mid tones on the viola, while Jeff Faragher played cello. Both More and Faragher play with the Symphony of the Kootenays, where Faragher is the principal cellist.
And of course, Nicola Everton, a veteran of the Vancouver Symphony for twenty years and now a biking, hiking, telemarking, track-and-fielding Rosslander, captured our hearts with her smooth and poignent clarinet.
How blessed we are!