We were happy to see some familiar faces from last spring, as well as to meet many new children and parents, this time presenting Elk’s Wintry Day with Jolivet’s Petite Suite– very fitting for the sub-freezing temperatures in Calgary lately! Many thanks to the kind folks at the Centre for Newcomers for hosting us again. We are also grateful to the National Music Centre’s Music Alive Program, as well as the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, whose financial support makes our continued work possible. It’s wonderful that we can meet with the children for pre-concert sessions, so they can take in more when we perform the entire story and chamber music piece for them. It’s great fun also to see how people react to the instruments when they try them out after our concerts!

Storymusic Creations is happy to present Elk’s Wintry Day, set to the Petite Suite by Jolivet, as well as Salmon and Dipper’s Wondrous Journey, set to the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp by Debussy, with Samantha Whelan Kotkas (narrator), Liza Scriggins (viola), Lucie Jones (flute) and Gianetta Baril (harp). This event is free and open to the public, and is followed by an optional luncheon for $7. February 1st is a professional development day for Calgary public schools, so it’s great timing! Many thanks to Knox Presbyterian Church for hosting us.

Besides contributions from the organizations we perform for, we are also funded by the Music Performance Trust Fund, the National Arts Centre’s Music Alive Program, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.  Their support allows us to reach many more children than we would otherwise, hopefully igniting a love of music and storytelling in the coming generations!

It’s starting to feel like a homecoming, performing at ISC– wonderful to see everyone again, and to meet a new group of children and parents! This was our eighth visit since 2016. We were delighted to be able to share Salmon and Dipper’s Wondrous Journey with the morning preschool, as well as Elk’s Wintry Day with the afternoon preschool, thanks to the generous support of Immigrant Services and the Music Performance Trust Fund. The National Arts Centre’s Music Alive Program also enabled us to meet with the kids the week prior for pre-concert workshops, including a newly designed session for Elk’s Wintry Day. We look forward to more concerts in the spring!

Storymusic was very excited to offer our first performances in French earlier today! We are grateful to Cité des Rocheuses and the Music Performance Trust Fund for making this possible. At 10 AM we played for an audience of about 60, including preschool children at Pommes de Reinette Daycare as well as some community members, presenting Le voyage merveilleux de Saumon et Dipper. The next hour we performed for a slightly smaller group of elementary children and families (yay for PD days!) to present Saumon et Dipper as well as Jour d’hiver du Wapiti. Thanks also to the National Art’s Centre’s Music Alive Program, we were able to meet with the children at Pommes de Reinette the previous week for a pre-concert session, sharing a bit more with the kids about the composers, our instruments, things to listen for in the music, and ways to make music together. Kudos to our narrator Julie Freedman Smith for navigating in French! You can view some of the action on our Videos page.

Late November 2018: performances and pre-concert sessions at Pommes de Reinette Daycare, La Cité des Rocheuses

Late November and early December 2018: performances and pre-concert sessions at Immigrant Services Calgary

February 1, 2019 @ noon: Red Carpet Series, Knox Presbyterian Church

March 2019: preconcert sessions and performances at the Centre for Newcomers

March 2019: preconcert sessions and performances at Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association

Late May 2019: performances at several Heartland Agency locations

June 2019: FREE public concert at the new Central Library Performance Hall

Thanks to translations by Red Deer Symphony Maestro Claude LaPalme, and narrations by Julie Freedman Smith, we will be presenting two stories in French! Salmon & Dipper’s Wondrous Journey becomes Le voyage merveilleux de Saumon et Dipper, and Elk’s Wintry Day becomes Jour d’hiver du wapiti. We look forward to meeting everyone at Pommes de Reinette Daycare and La Cité des Rocheuses in November for our first performances specifically designed for the Francophone community!

Later this year we will be presenting Grounder’s Grand Adventure, set to the Serenade for String Trio by Hungarian composer Ernő Dohnányi. It’s the story of a Richardson’s ground squirrel who sets out to find his place in the world, and includes a journey to the forest, an encounter with wind turbines, and much more! Want to know more about these critters? Check this out: Richardson’s Ground Squirrels: FAQ

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It was our great pleasure to perform Elk’s Wintry Day for the K-6 students at the Connaught School! How wonderful to hear student’s impressions and story ideas on the excerpt we played from Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, and also a huge treat to see the kids perform their own choreography of the third movement from Jolivet’s Petite Suite. Students were also most helpful for set up and take down, and were very engaged after the concert during our sessions on animal footprints and storymaking, as well as instrument tryouts and crafting. Thanks to one and all for a most memorable school visit, and special thanks to the Instrumental Society of Calgary for organizing and funding this event!

Again thanks to the National Arts Centre, we were excited to be able to visit the good people at Immigrant Services Calgary this spring. Pre-concert sessions enabled us to connect more with the kids, parents and facilitators, making our subsequent performances that much more meaningful to one and all. NAC’s Music Alive Program is sponsoring us for two more years, so we look forward to more concerts next season!