Media Release
For immediate
release
June 30, 2005
Celebrate Alberta's Centennial at the Banff Summer Arts Festival with a weekend of performances
A Taste of the Festival
Friday, July 8, 7:30 p.m.Music for a Midsummer’s Evening Grand Concert
Saturday, July 9, 7:30p.m.
The Banff Centre throws open its doors for a special celebration of the Banff Summer Arts Festival beginning on Friday, July 8. The weekend commences with the annual Taste of the Festival event, and continues Saturday, July 9 with Music for a Midsummer’s Evening Grand Concert.
Featuring a gala evening of Festival highlights, A Taste of the Festival will sample selections from the height, breadth, and depth of creative performance at The Banff Centre. Presented by Xerox Canada, the evening kicks off with a presentation of Old Style Prairie Chicken Dance performed by Stoney dancer Trevor Pelletier, followed by music for double reeds by Henry Purcell, highlights of the Centre’s literary and visual arts programs, and excerpts from the hit opera, Filumena, sung by members of the 2005 Arts Festival cast.
The evening continues with a showcase of the Festival Dance program - excerpts from Brian Macdonald’s Aimez-vous Bach?, Carmina Burana, and a new work by Alberta choreographer Sabrina Matthews. Guests and artists are then invited to mingle while enjoying an outdoor barbecue on the patio of The Banff Centre’s Music & Sound building.
The following evening, a midsummer concert celebrates the talents of the Centre’s renowned music faculty and summer program musicians. The repertoire for Music for a Midsummer’s Evening includes Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes for string quartet, clarinet and piano, Prokofiev’s Quintet in G Minor Op. 39 for winds and strings, and Brahms’ Two Songs, Op. 91 with solo by mezzosoprano Nan Hughes. The evening concludes with a performance by bassist Edgar Meyer performing his own compositions with violinist Erika Raum and cellist Shauna Rolston, and Weber’s Andante and Hungarian Rondo, Op. 35, with a solo by bassoonist Stéphane Lévesque..
Tickets for both A Taste of the Festival and Music for a Midsummer’s Evening Grand Concert are $20 adult, $15 student/senior, $10 child, and free for Arts Lovers Passholders. Tickets for all Banff Summer Arts Festival events are available at The Banff Centre Box Office at 1-800-413-8368 or (403) 762-6301, or at box_office@banffcentre.ca.
For more information on the Banff Summer Arts Festival: http://www.banffcentre.ca/bsaf/
Media Contact
Jill Sawyer
Media and Communications Officer, The Banff Centre
403.762.6475
