ARTS EAST

This is the life of men on earth: Out of darkness we come at birth Into a lamplit room, and then - Go forward into dark again   Weill Underground Starring Janice Jackson, Stuart Hiseler, Karen Myatt and Barbara Pritchard   Friday, March 1, 7pm Saturday, March 2, 7pm The Seahorse Tavern, Halifax   http://www.vocalypse.ca/weillunderground.html Janice Jackson is one of Canada’s foremost interpreters of contemporary vocal repertoire. She has sung over 180 world premieres of new works, many written specifically for her, and performed in modern music festivals and concert halls around the world – Beijing, Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Torino, Toronto, Montreal, and more. Jackson has been a frequent guest artist with modern music ensembles in Canada, Europe, and China, and she has made numerous radio recordings with Dutch radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Highlights of the 2010 – 2011 Season were 2 world premieres by compose...

Set against the darkness and disasters of the coal mines of 1940’s Cape Breton, The Glace Bay Miners Museum – which runs from Feb 26 to Mar 17 at the Neptune Theatre in Halifax -   is the joyful, heart-scalding story of Margaret MacNeil and her rebellious love for Neil Currie, a miner and bagpiper. Recently, Arts East spoke with Francine Deschepper, who plays the lead role of Margaret, about the upcoming production. When and why did you get involved with theatre? I guess from a very early age, I was one of those kids that was always performing. My friends and I would create little variety shows with songs and skits for the captive audience of our families. But I got into theatre seriously when I took the acting program at Acadia University. Are they the same reasons that you do it today? I have always had a rich imagination. I love pretending to be someone else and I love entertaining...so that has stayed true. Another reason I love my job is the fantastically talented...

Los Primos is pleased to announce two special guests to be featured at the 13 th annual Dance for All Ages on February 23 - Augusto Enriquez and Oliver Valdés. During their stay, these musicians will join headlining band-Latin Groove as well as give performances, workshops, and share musical culture with local students and professional musicians. This mid-winter event is an opportunity for young and old to dance the night away Cuban style. Dance lessons provided by Halifax Salseros. Latin Groove is the Latin dance community’s favorite band to dance to. At the Dance for All Ages, a fifteen piece-Latin Groove will hit the stage at 9:30 p.m and play two sets of hot salsa music that’s sure to bring the temperature of our icy city to the boiling point. Fifteen musicians – Cuban and Canadian – will take to the stage to delight in this hot mix of Latin music and Cuban salsa that will delight the growing fans of salsa dancing in the region. Leading the way will be Augusto Enriquez, o...

Sheryl Haws is a visual artist, originally from Birds Creek, Ontario, who now calls West Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia her home. Her distinctive, pulsating interpretation of humans and her environment is represented in various media, including drawings, mixed media, paintings and fine craft. http://sherylhaws.tumblr.com  

Looking to spice things up this Valentines Day? Look no further than SUBLIME, Nova Scotia’s annual mid-winter Flamenco extravaganza taking place this coming weekend at Alderny Landing in Dartmouth. Event founder and organizer Maria Osende brings the love. What motivated you to start this event, and when was that? Flamenco and Valentine’s Day are the perfect match for each other – romantic, passionate, exotic and for a change of weather – hot! How has the event evolved over the years? The event started in 2005 as a small, intimate, one-night show with four artists on stage at FRED Art Gallery and Café. Now, it is a full main stage production taking place at Alderney Landing Theatre with 10 performers and a stage. What's on the agenda for this year's event? This year we are premiering SUBLIME, a blend of flamenco, blues, and opera fusion. Inspired in the concept of the SUBLIME, that moment that ebbs between beauty and passion, it has a dangerous quality of great...

For more than 20 years Nova Scotia’s Rhapsody Quintet has thrilled and delighted audiences with its sparkling renditions of a wide range of music, including light classical, salon, musical theatre, jazz, tango, klezmer, movie music and more. Recently AE caught up with the group’s double-bassist David Langstroth to discuss their latest CD Passion, and their concert this Wednesday night at The Carleton Music Bar & Grill in Halifax. For a 'part-time' gig, Rhapsody keeps very busy - what has the band been up to lately? Rhapsody quintet has been preparing for concerts in Truro, Halifax and Lunenberg, and for a variety of private functions. We've also been considering some interesting offers such as an invitation to perform at a festival in South America. We have been getting to know the musicians who have been playing violin and clarinet with us over the winter while Anne and John are away, and we are writing new arrangements You explored a lot of new ground on th...

Anna Quon is a novelist, poet, freelance writer and writing workshop facilitator, originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Her first novel,  Migration Songs  (Invisible Publishing, 2009) was short-listed for the Dartmouth Book Award and it has received many positive reviews (including this one from The Coast’s Sue Carter Flinn: "Anna Quon's debut novel Migration Songs is a hopeful sign for Atlantic Canadian literature moving beyond the traditional rural stories and recognizing that we don't all share the same history”). One of Quon's latest poetry zines,   Mental Illness Poems,   was lauded by famous poet-playwright George Elliott Clarke. In a  Chronicle Herald   column from July, 2012, Clarke wrote, "Quon is one of Canada’s most original poets. Look up her work, please. Read her. Honour her."   Arts East   caught up with Quon, who is in the process of editing her second novel to be published by Invisible Publishing, in the current place s...

Symphony Nova Scotia will honour the memory of one of the 20th century’s most spiritual and inventive American composers, the late   Peter Lieberson, with a performance of his   Neruda Songs   on Thursday, February 7 at 7:30 pm at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax. Audience members will also be a part of history. Symphony Nova Scotia is partnering with CBC Maritimes, CBC Producer Jeff Reilly, and Juno, Emmy, and Grammy award-winning concert film makers, Pierre and François Lamoureux of Cinemusica, to create a live audio visual recording of the best known of Lieberson’s works, based on five Spanish sonnets by   Pablo Neruda, each a reflection of a different aspect of love . The resulting concert film will be nationally and internationally distributed, a testament to the beauty of this award-winning composition, of Mr. Lieberson’s reputation as a composer, and his leadership within the Buddhist community that led him to call Nova Scotia home. Born in New Yor...

On a cold, snowy Super Bowl Sunday there might be no better place to be than snuggled up in front of the big screen at home with pizza, wings, beer and close friends. If you’re not the sporting type, however, and you’re looking for something a little more… civil …you might consider Neptune Theatre’s current production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest . Wry, witty, whimsical and warm, the work is the Irish scribe’s best, and best-known, play - and a particular pleasure for patrons of the English language. As a key stepping stone in the transition from Shakespearean script to modern speak, Wilde bridged that gap with both style and substance; turns-of-phrase are firmly tongue-in-cheek, sleight-of-handling is hallmark, and timing and nuance are critical components of this three-act, late-19 th century romantic comedy. As such, the two-hour and twenty-minute performance spins upon the axis of dialogue. Credit Neptune’s Artistic Director George Pothitis fo...

Starting February 3, 2013,  Payback (La Dette)  (2011, 86 min), directed by Jennifer Baichwal, will be screened as part of the Rendez-vous de l’ONF en Acadie in several New Brunswick and Nova Scotia communities. Based on the Margaret Atwood bestseller, Payback : Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, this feature documentary explores the concept of debt in all its forms and presents the views of fascinating and influential figures, including Louise Arbour, Karen Armstrong, Conrad Black, Raj Patel and Bill Rees. The film explores the link between debtor and creditor in a variety of contexts and places—from the mountains of northern Albania to the tomato fields of southern Florida—blending compelling stories about “owing and being owed” with the views of renowned thinkers. “Both visceral and revealing, the film Payback compels us to re-examine the foundations of social inequality, what we value and the essential role that debts play in the way we organize our l...