This summer the 26th Annual Noon Hour Series is returning to Georgian Shores United Church every Wednesday at noon beginning July 3rd. Each week we will be presenting classical, folk and blues music performed by local favourites, and nationally acclaimed musicians.
Thanks to our Season Sponsor Tamming Law, the summer will feature nine concerts, over 50 musicians, hundreds of beautiful posters and cards courtesy of Simon Farla, and over a thousand audience members at the magnificent Georgian Shores United Church.
We look forward to seeing you at the Noon Hour Series!
Joachim and Sebastian Ostertag
July 3
Hit the Ground
Matt Epp
“Canada’s best kept secret singer-songwriter”
Grand Prize Winner of the prestigious International Songwriting Competition (ISC), Matt Epp kicks off the 26th Annual Noon Hour Series with songs from his globe spanning musical career.
Epp has won the admiration and hearts of an audience that spans around the world. He sings with a tenderness that belies an honesty seldom seen, and a weighty pitch that travels right to the core. His existence has been in constant flux since he was a teenager, having lived everywhere from the desolate Canadian prairies to bustling big cities, hitchhiking all over Canada and traveling the world in between. This wealth of experience has turned him into one of the country’s best live acts; he is a stark and confessional songwriter and a rare performer with the ability to take you into his world and make you feel like, in an instant, a true friend.
Endowed with an infinite capacity to engage an audience with soul-inspiring, beautifully honest songs and a genial disposition, Epp is one of the gifted forerunners defining the future landscape of Canadian music.
July 10
Singing in the Name
Kelda Mikalson; voice, and Bethany Matthews; piano
They say everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame. But if you’re immortalized in song, you’re famous forever. Come out for songs of love, scorned lovers, and people too fascinating to forget.
Kelda Mikalson received her Bachelor of Music in the windy coulees of Lethbridge and now lives in Owen Sound, Ontario, where she has found a supportive community. Kelda has put on independent historical and cabaret shows and performed in the Owen Sound Noon Hour Series, with the A Cappella Chamber Choir, the Owen Sound Little Theatre and the Lighthouse Swing Band. She performs as often as possible and loves teaching all ages at Music Together with Kelda and Long and McQuade and singing with her long term care residents.
Bethany began studying piano at a young age and obtained an Associates Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in 2015.
She has accompanied for musical theatre workshops, vocal and instrumental Kiwanis festival performances, RCM exams, the West Hill Secondary School vocal class,musicals at the former OSCVI, as well as other projects with various individuals of the community. As well, Bethany is a member of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association.
https://keldamikalson.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/MTwithKelda
July 17
Animato!
Orchestra North Faculty Concert
Artists and Faculty of Orchestra North
Orchestra North returns to the Noon Hour Series stage with virtuosity, energy, and passion. Featuring the artists and academy of the festival, including Interro Quartet, violin, Roxi Dykstra; viola, Samantha Orr; violin, Aaron Hodgson; trumpet, Janus Quartet, Sarah Steeves; cello, Chantal Lemire; viola, Sonya Nanos; cello, Jasmine Schnarr; viola, Robert Tite; clarinet, Tristan Durie; flute
This concert has become an annual favourite of the Noon Hour Series, and will be a musical highlight of the summer!
July 24
Piano Poetry
Kati Gleiser; piano
Kati Gleiser returns to the Noon Hour Series to perform her favorite selections of Chopin and Ravel virtuoso piano pieces that will delight your heart. This afternoon of music will also present a rare opportunity to hear her sing her new songs for Earth Mother and our Ancestors.
A world renowned concert pianist, Kati Gleiser has performed and taught across the globe, including performances at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and on National Public Radio (NPR). She has performed throughout North America and as far as Shanghai, China. She is a National level prizewinner, at the Canadian Music Competition and the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association (CFMTA) Competition, and was a finalist at the Canadian National Chopin Competition. She is a frequent guest artist at Sweetwater and Kincardine Music Festivals. She is currently co-Artistic Director at Symphony in the Barn, an annual world-renowned festival that celebrates Culture and Agri-Culture on a biodynamic organic farm in Durham, Ontario, under the visionary leadership of Michael Schmidt.
July 31
Late Nights on Irish Mountain
Larry Jensen; guitar, and Rob Rolfe; spoken word
Late nights on Irish Mountain is a song, poetry, and storytelling project undertaken by guitarist and singer Larry Jensenand local poet, Rob Rolfe. Upon completion it will consist of a CD of songs, as well as a book of lyrics, poems, song commentaries, and short essays by Rob Rolfe, Larry Jensen, Will Henry, Andrew Armitage, and illustrated by Patty Waterfield. The book will be published by the Ginger Press.
Larry and Rob have combined their works of songs and poems about the history and stories of Grey and Bruce Counties. Larry has also released a self-published book entitled “Some Are Songs” A Book of Words. The book consists of poems and song lyrics spanning Larry’s career. From 2015-2017, Larry and Rob Rolfe served with distinction as Owen Sound’s Poet laureates.
Larry Jensen has released 15 albums over the years featuring all original songs. In October 2009, Larry was awarded the very first “Owen Sound Cultural Award” given in recognition of his long standing musical contributions to his home community.
Rob Rolfe is the author of five books of poetry, Hart Rouge (2017), Hard Times (2015), Beyond Mudtown (2013), Saugeen (2011) and The Hawk (2008). Rob was active within Canada’s largest union in efforts to combat racism in the union and its workplaces.
www.quattrobooks.ca/authors/rob-rolfe/
lajensenmusic.wixsite.com/music
Facebook
August 7
Oh Jubilation
Joyful Joyful
Joyful Joyful is a duo of voice and electronics making music on the stranger shores of folk. Blending noise, field recordings, sacred and folk traditions, they create shimmering drones and soundscapes that are at once unsettling, transcendent and hopeful.
“Utilizing vocal and musical processors, Joyful Joyful are a truly heart-wrenching duo that might just make you rethink synthesized music. …Emotional, powerful singing scored by a woozy but welcoming soundtrack that seems to be alive, responding in the moment. Unreal and unlike anything else.” -Vish Kanna – Here are your 2018 Kazoo! Fest best bets
https://thatjoyfulsound.tumblr.com/
https://thatjoyfulsound.tumblr.com/video
https://www.facebook.com/joyfuljoyfulband/
August 14
Songs for my Children
Jacqueline Woodley; soprano
Soprano Jacqueline Woodley’s highly anticipated return to the Noon Hour Series stage t will feature songs from a mother: classical and popular music from around the world celebrating motherhood and children.
Jacqueline has been praised for her fearless versatility, changing styles fluidly from early music to contemporary, from opera to art song. An acclaimed soprano she has performed with the San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Edmonton Opera and Montreal Symphony, and is featured in a newly released album of songs called “Cloud Light” by Canadian-Polish composer Norbert Palej, recorded with pianist Steven Philcox and the Canadian Art Song Project.
https://www.jacquelinewoodley.com/
August 21
Reeds and Hammers
Rob Tite; clarinet, and Christine McLean; piano and clarinet
Two of the region’s finest clarinetists join forces for an afternoon of dynamic virtuosity and intimate melodies performed by clarinets and piano. Featuring everything from Beethoven Symphonic arrangements, the Copland Clarinet Concerto, and everything in between, this concert will showcase the full range of artistic possibilities when two masters of their instrument collaborate.
August 28
Summer Coda
Sebastian Ostertag; cello, and Ronald Greidanus; organ and piano
The 26th Noon Hour Series concludes with a stirring afternoon of music for cello, organ and piano. Sebastian and Ronald have planned a musical journey that will span 400 years of compositions featuring works by Antoni Vivaldi, Anton Webern, and Samuel Barber.
