Archives
My review of Saturday’s Regina Symphony Orchestra concert…
...is in today's LeaderPost. It begins: There's something surreal about watching a symphony orchestra decked out in iterations of green and white playing Prokofiev and Mendelssohn, but even if clothes make the man, they don't make (or unmake) the concert, and the Regina Symphony Orchestra gave another terrific performance Saturday night at the Conexus Arts Centre. The highlight was Prokofiev's "Second Piano Concerto," considered one of the most difficult pieces of piano music ever composed -- and yet, so well played by soloist Hung-Kuan Chen that if conductor Victor Sawa hadn't told the audience how difficult it was they might not have suspected it -- unless they were among the half of the crowd who could see Chen's fingers flying up ...My preview of the Regina Symphony Orchestra concert featuring pianist Hung-Kuan Chen…
...is online at the Regina Leader Post. It begins: Pianist Hung-Kuan Chen isn't one to shy away from a challenge. Neither is Regina Symphony Orchestra maestro Victor Sawa.Which is why Saturday's Mosaic Masterworks concert at the Conexus Arts Centre features Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2, which Sawa calls "arguably the toughest concerto ever written." "Normally, piano music has a bass staff and a treble staff," Sawa says. "This has three. There are so many notes he couldn't even get it on two staffs!" Because of the difficulty, the concerto is rarely heard. "Everyone is too afraid to play it," Sawa says. But not Chen.My review of Robert Michaels’s concert with the Regina Symphony Orchestra…
...was in yesterday's Regina LeaderPost. It begins: It's a cliche, after a concert on a chilly Saskatchewan night, to say something about the performer heating things up inside despite the world outside having turned prematurely white. But if there were ever a performer to whom that cliche was perfectly suited, it would have to be Robert Michaels, the Juno Award-winning guitarist who joined forces with the Regina Symphony Orchestra for Saturday's Flamenco Fire concert, the first in this year's Shumiatcher Pops Series. From the opening number, it was easy to imagine, as Maestro Victor Sawa suggested, that you were sitting in Spain's Sierra ...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 ...My review of the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s Pops concert with guitarist Jack Semple…
...is in today's LeaderPost. It begins: The set of people who like both symphony orchestras and screaming guitars is generally thought of as small, but based on Guitar Heroes, Saturday's Regina Symphony Orchestra Shumiatcher Pops concert featuring Jack Semple, it's at least as large as the seating capacity of the Conexus Arts Centre. Semple often plays with the RSO when a guitarist is required, but this was the first time he's been front-and-centre for an entire concert, and the result was spectacular. Read the whole thing. More about the Regina Symphony Orchestra. More about Jack Semple.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.My review of Saturday’s Regina Symphony Orchestra concert…
...featuring Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and a brand-new viola concerto by local player and composer Jonathan Ward, is in today's LeaderPost. It begins: What do you program for the final masterworks concert of the 100th season of a symphony orchestra? It would be hard to improve on the Regina Symphony Orchestra's answer to that question: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Every movement has iconic moments, and (in my opinion) if Beethoven had written nothing else in his life but the final movement, it would have been enough.My review of Saturday’s Regina Symphony Orchestra concert…
...is now online, headlined "RSO scores again with movies." Here's how it starts:Halfway through the second half of the Regina Symphony Orchestra's 10th annual The RSO Goes to the Oscars movie-music concert, Maestro Victor Sawa commented on the versatility of movie composers, who may find themselves writing theme music for sharks in one movie and mood music for superheroes in the next.But it wasn't just the composers' versatility on display Saturday night -- the RSO once again proved that it can tackle any style of music with verve.It may have helped that superheroes Batman (on timpani) and Iron Man (on viola) were lending a hand, on a night that also saw a family ...My preview of the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s movie music concert…
..., RSO Goes to the Oscars, is in today's LeaderPost.Here's a bit from the middle:For Sawa, switching from symphonies to soundtracks is natural.In a strange way, he says, "we owe a debt of gratitude to the Nazis. Oscar Hammerstein, Max Steiner, Eric Korngold, Bernard Hermann, Franz Waxman -- they all came over because they were being persecuted in Europe."The entire Hollywood sound was created by the classical composers of Europe."When we talk about classical music and how it survived the second half of the 20th century, everyone was going to the movies, they were listening to classical music."The snob factor is missing when you go to the ...My review of "Opera for Skeptics"…
..., the Regina Symphony Orchestra's concert on Saturday night, is online at the LeaderPost. It begins:If the Regina Symphony Orchestra's "Opera for Skeptics" Valentine's Day concert was intended to convince people to fall in love with the art form, it probably failed, since very little actual opera was presented.After all, there were no sets, no scenes, and no costumes -- aside from an aluminum-foil horned helmet that adorned maestro Victor Sawa's podium all evening.However, if the goal was the more modest one of illustrating how much wonderful music opera has to offer, the concert succeeded admirably.And thanks to the often-comic introductions by Sawa and guest baritone ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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