Media Release

---

For immediate release
July 7, 2006

Banff Centre live over air in Washington this weekend.

The estimated 1 million people strolling Washington’s famous Mall – just down from the White House – on Saturday July 8 will be getting a taste of the Banff Summer Arts Festival.  Selections from the 2006 Festival will be presented large as life on Alberta’s Wild Rose Stage at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival by way of the Alberta SuperNet, Alberta Education and a dedicated group of Banff Centre artists and staff.  The Centre’s Creative Electronic Environment will broadcast two one-hour live, interactive shows to a giant screen in the U.S. capitol.

Audiences in both Banff and Washington will not only get to see the performances, they will also get a chance to chat to the performers.  Acclaimed trumpeter Jens Lindemann will provide a sneak preview of the new musical extravaganza Brassfire, co-produced by The Banff Centre, which will have its world premiere that evening in the Centre’s Eric Harvie Theatre.

Banff Community High School band members will be on hand to discuss the new work with Lindemann, who will also answer questions posed by students from the Kennedy School of the Arts in Washington.

The program will then move to showcase highlights from the popular 2003 made-in-Alberta opera Filumena, and the audience in Washington will get a chance to talk to the opera’s librettist – Banff’s own John Murrell.  Dancers then take to the stage to present a preview of the 2006 Festival Dance program, with selections from choreographer Brian Macdonald’s Time out of Mind and choreographer Simone Orlando’s new work Winter’s Journey.

“It’s amazing how the technology really allows people to feel like they are here live in Banff,” says Sarah Iley, vice president of programming at The Banff Centre. “I was down in Washington two weeks ago at the Wild Rose Tent and Alberta Education has done a terrific job.  The day of our live feed to the Mall, Minister Gary Mar and our MLA Janis Tarchuk will be sitting in Washington talking to our performers in Alberta and the audiences in both places – and you’ll never know that there are thousands of miles between us.”

Washington will also experience one of The Banff Centre’s signature Music at Noon concerts.  This one will feature a cello duet by Estelle and Arnold Choi, a Scottish folk song performed by baritone Mike Uloth, and a performance of Henk Badings’ “Trio No. 4” by oboeists Anna Petersen and Sara Parulski, and French horn player Kate Denny.

“While the folks in Washington aren’t able to experience what it’s like sitting in Rolston Recital Hall, listening to music and looking out the windows at the spectacular mountain setting, our talented videographers have put together some beautiful footage of Banff to intersperse with the concert,” Iley says.

The July 8 broadcast and interactive program is only part of the strong thread of connection being formed between the Smithsonian and The Banff Centre. The Centre’s president, Mary Hofstetter, joined by vice president, programming Sarah Iley, Philip Ponting, chair of the Board of Governors, and Banff Centre board member Murray Edwards, were all part of Alberta’s official delegation to Washington to mark the gala opening of Alberta at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

They were there to help host Partners across Borders, an event at the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, at which Premier Klein announced a new internship program created through a partnership between the Alberta Government and the Smithsonian Institutions – Washington’s network of 40 national museums of everything from art to aerospace. The $300,000, five-year program will provide internships for ten Alberta post-secondary students per year at Smithsonian centres.  As one of the six post-secondary institutions invited to participate in the program, The Banff Centre will be able to nominate participants who will benefit from this invaluable work experience, a legacy that will serve Banff long after this weekend’s events are over.

For more information on the 2006 Banff Summer Arts Festival:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/bsaf/

For more information on Alberta’s participation in the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival:
http://www.albertaindc.com/