Ragtime and Mountain Music That Will Take You Back To a Simpler Time

Enjoy Sheesham & Lotus’ Family Matinee at Horizon Stage on Saturday, February 9

What if you only had one fiddle or mouth organ for a whole family or party? You would make do with what you had -- hands, feet, voices, spoons, sticks, washboards, old string or wire, whatever you could rustle up around the place! In that tradition, Sheesham & Lotus (Teilhard Frost and Sam Allison) play “olde-tyme” music from the Appalachian Mountain-region. Looking like they just stepped off Huckleberry Finn’s raft, Sheesham & Lotus play jaw harps, ham-bone percussion and home-made bass harmonicas in the ragtime and mountain style. Let them take you back to a time when families entertained themselves with dance, song, and music created fresh each day.  See Sheesham & Lotus in Spruce Grove on Saturday, February 9^th at 2 p.m. as the second performance in Horizon Stage’s 2013 Family Matinee Series.

Sheesham & Lotus came together in 1998 playing as the rhythm section in a fiddle band called Flapjack. Together for the next seven years they were on the road throughout Canada and the United States playing dances, concerts and workshops. It was during this time that they took a keen interest in the folk traditions of North America, particularly the American South. Both became enthusiastic historians of old-time fiddle and banjo music, learning from the old masters across the regions south of the Mason-Dixon line. Through personal instruction, perseverance and osmosis they learned harmonica, jaw-harp, flatfoot, and song.

Sheesham & Lotus play fiddle and banjo respectively, with an additional array of home-made curiosities of noise-makery. Sheesham makes gourd banjos and fiddles, and Lotus plays an invention called the contra-bass harmoniphoneum, which is a self-contained bass-harmonica and euphonium horn that can be used while plucking a banjo. Sheesham & Lotus use horns for singing, harmonicas, jaw-harps and more. Their sound can be described as American roots music but they also love to play fiddle tunes, hokum blues songs and ragtime string music. “The sounds of the south are near and dear to our hearts,” says Lotus, “from the old fiddlers to the Memphis jug-bands... there is so much to hear and learn.”

Let Sheesham & Lotus take you, and your family, back to simpler time when music was made orally, physically, with the cutlery or anything else that could be found. Tickets are just $18 for adults, $15 for children and seniors. Curtain is at 2 p.m. and there are free craft and colouring pre-show activities in the lobby for kids starting at 1 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the City Hall Ticket Centre (315 Jespersen Ave), by phone at 780-962-8995, or online at www.ticketmaster.ca. Electronically you can visit www.sheeshamandlotus.com or like and follow them on facebook.

“Sam Allison and Teilhard Frost performing as Sheesham and Lotus (are) a real shot of joy… they perform old time music as if born into it… These guys are so in love with old time stringband music that the excitement jumps in the room… You have no choice, ya have to dance.” Penguin Eggs Magazine

Denis Chang Master Class

Experience the Sizzle and Feel the Heat of the Gypsy Jazz Guitar

See the Denis Chang Manouche Quartet at Horizon Stage on Thursday, February 7

 

It has been said that guitar virtuoso Denis Chang’s fingers “fly faster than his shadow”. Called the “Godfather of the Montréal gypsy jazz scene”, Denis is equally at ease with bebop and other jazz styles but it is when performing in the manouche style that he truly finds his passion. Horizon Stage is excited to present the Denis Chang Manouche Quartet, as a part of its 30^th anniversary season, on Thursday, February 7^th at 7:30 p.m.

Denis Chang’s family origins are Taiwanese but he grew up in Montreal and spent his formative years alongside some of the greatest manouche jazz guitarists, including Fapy Lafertin, Ritary Gaguenetti, Paulus Schäfer, Rindo Winterstein and Emmanuel Kassimo. As a young performer, Denis quickly developed his own style, influenced mostly by the music of the legendary Romani jazz guitarist and composer, Django Reinhardt, with some Bach, Chopin, George Benson, and Michael Jackson thrown in. Also an up-and-coming composer, he has been including a smattering of his own compositions in his concert play-lists since 2012.

In 2008, Denis had the honour of being invited to perform with the legendary Les Paul at the Iridium in New York. Other highlights of his career include performing at the 2009 Montreal International Jazz Festival and winning an Entrée and Scène Award from Loto-Quebec.

A highly sought-after guitar teacher and master-class instructor, practically every performing gypsy jazz musician in Quebec has benefited from Denis’ teaching. He has attracted private students from as far as California, Vermont, the UK and South Africa, and his manouche guitar instructional DVDs have been very successful. Denis’ student list includes the legendary guitarist of the Shadows, Hank Marvin, and guitar virtuoso Adrian Vandenberg of Whistesnake fame.

While in Spruce Grove he will teach a Django Reinhardt Style Guitar Master Class at Horizon Stage on Wednesday, February 6^th at 7 p.m. Priced at only $25, master class participants will also receive a free ticket to Denis’ concert on Thursday. Anyone interested in participating in the master class should call 780-962-8995.

The Denis Chang Manouche Quartet are touring Alberta for their first time in February 2013. See them Up Close and Personal at Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove on Thursday, February 7^th. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for students and seniors, and $5 for high school students through the eyeGO program. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the City Hall Ticket Centre (315 Jespersen Ave), by phone at 780-962-8995, or online at www.ticketmaster.ca. Come, see Denis Chang’s amazing fingers for yourself, and feel the heat of his gypsy jazz guitar!

“The audience was mesmerized by the musical wizardry of Chang and his back up musicians.”

LDNews, BC, Canada

Experience the Music of Les Misérable and Phantom of the Opera Up Close & Personal

Celebrate Horizon Stage’s Pearl Anniversary with Michael Burgess & Rebecca Caine: The Dream Concert

Celebrate Horizon Stage’s 30^th anniversary with two of Canada’s most luminous vocalists. Best known for their stellar performances in Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera, Michael Burgess and Rebecca Caine are performing together in The Dream Concert and local audiences are being given two opportunities to see this amazing musical theatre vocal-collaboration in Spruce Grove on Tuesday, January 29^th and Wednesday, January 30^th.
 

Soprano Rebecca Caine created the role of Cosette in the original Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of ‘Les Miz’. After a successful West End run, she joined the original cast of Phantom of the Opera to play Christine opposite Michael Crawford. She then returned to Toronto to repeat the role in the Canadian premiere of ‘Phantom’. Uniquely, Ms Caine’s career has been divided between musical theatre and opera. Her roles with the Canadian Opera Company include Vixen, Pamina, Despina, and Micaëla and at other theatres she has played Pamina (Glimmerglass), Musetta, Susanna (English National Opera), and Adina (New Zealand Opera).
 

Tenor Michael Burgess performed the lead role of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables over one thousand times at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre and in the Canadian touring production. Whether starring in a major musical, performing in concert, or appearing at world events for patrons like Queen Elizabeth II, Burgess touches the hearts and minds of his listeners.
 

Fresh from an appearance with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Michael Burgess and Rebecca Caine will take their Horizon Stage audiences on a dazzling journey through the music of classic and contemporary Broadway during this once-in-a-lifetime musical theatre experience. The Dream Concert opens with solo sets and closes with Michael and Rebecca singing iconic duets from ‘Phantom’ and ‘Les Miz’. Hearing these two incredible voices play off each other will be an unforgettable treat for anyone who loves musicals.
 

Les Misérables has been seen by more than 60 million people in 42 countries in 21 languages and is still breaking box-office records. It has been running in London’s West End since 1985. Phantom of the Opera is the West End’s second longest-running musical and Broadway’s longest-running musical (over 10,000 shows in New York and counting) and is also still in production around the globe.  Michael Burgess and Rebecca Caine are touring The Dream Concert to selected venues in western Canada this winter and these two nights in Spruce Grove are their only performances scheduled in the Edmonton area.
 

Tickets to see Michael Burgess and Rebecca Caine Up Close and Personal in The Dream Concert at Horizon Stage on January 29^th and 30^th are $40 for adults, $35 for students and seniors, and $5 for high school students through the eyeGO program. Both concerts start at 7:30 p.m. but the Tuesday night show includes a 30^th anniversary gala reception in the lobby at 6:30 p.m., with a commemorative ceremony and speeches in the theatre at 7:15 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the City Hall Ticket Centre (315 Jespersen Ave), by phone at 780-962-8995, or online at www.ticketmaster.ca. Horizon Stage is 30 minutes from Edmonton. Burgess and Caine are out of this world!