Edward Willett

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A preview of Flamenco Fire, the Regina Symphony Pops concert featuring guitarist Robert Michaels

My preview of this Saturday's Flamenco Fire Regina Symphony Orchestra Shumiatcher Pops concert, featuring guitarist Robert Michaels, is in today's Regina LeaderPost. It begins: For every form of music there are purists who say of certain practitioners, "That's not really (whatever form of music they're a purist in)." Guitarist Robert Michaels admits Flamenco purists might say the same about Flamenco Fire, the concert he'll perform with the Regina Symphony Orchestra on Saturday. But the man the Ottawa Sun once dubbed "Flamenco's version of Led Zeppelin axe-god Jimmy Page" is OK with that. Saturday's high-energy show, he ...

Posted by Edward Willett at 12:38, October 8th, 2009 under Art Columns, Blog, Columns | Comment now »

My preview of the ballet Don Quixote…

...being presented this week by Class Act Performing Arts Studio and Do It With Class Young People's Theatre (and in which, full disclosure, my daughter Alice is playing a chicken), is in today's Regina LeaderPost. An excerpt: Eduardo Ventura, one of the ballet instructors at Class Act and Do It With Class, will dance Basilio. "He's a poor barber in the village," Ventura explains. "Kitri and him have known each other since they were kids, and they love each other, but her father doesn't want any penniless suitor for his daughter. He's planning to marry her with the rich Gamache (Kent Wolkowski). They have to fight for their love." The role of Kitri is being danced by Jacqueline Burtney, a former student who ...

Posted by Edward Willett at 9:48, June 15th, 2009 under Art Columns, Blog, Columns | Comment now »

My preview of the Regina Symphony’s Pops Concert “Guitar Heroes”…

...which features guitarist Jack Semple, is up at the Regina LeaderPost. It begins: Most electric guitar players don't get much opportunity -- if any -- to play with a symphony orchestra. Most electric guitar players aren't Jack Semple, who's headlining the Regina Symphony Orchestra's final Shumiatcher Pops concert of the year, Guitar Heroes, on Saturday at the Conexus Arts Centre. "I've been really fortunate in the last few years," Semple says. "They've been using me on their Oscars shows and Pops shows and Mozart in the Meadow and stuff. "There are so many brilliant musicians in the orchestra," he adds. "It's like going to school. I've learned what the orchestra can do." Read the whole thing.

Posted by Edward Willett at 9:25, May 7th, 2009 under Blog | Comment now »