Fort Langley Celebration of the Arts, July 28th – 29th, 2012

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‘I would have all the arts draw together, recover their ancient association, the painter painting what the poet has written, the musician setting the poet’s words to simple airs, that the horse-man and the engine-driver may sing at their work.’    (W. B. Yeats)

Welcome to our Fort Langley Celebration of the Arts web-site. The July 28th – 29th weekend of July 2012 will see our village transformed into a toe-tapping tapestry of tunes as well as of other creative performances and varieties of artistic expression. Located on a bed of gravel,sand and silt borrowed from the Fraser river, surrounded by a flood-plain likewise borrowed from time, our Village, known as ‘The Birthplace of British Columbia’ is the perfect historical setting for such an event.

During the Summer of 2011, a number of like-minded individuals, with the encouragement of the Fort Langley Community Improvement Society, formed the Fort Langley Celebration of the Arts Committee. We are now busy organizing festivities, and as our plans firm up, this site will allow you to follow our progress.

At some point, the site will have videos of individual performers and artists who will be featured at the Celebration. We will also create a route for your input; you can help us by keeping in touch!

David James,
Chair, Fort Langley Celebration of the Arts Committee

John Lee Sanders

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John Lee Sanders can sit in front of a piano and bring the smoke from a Texas BBQ, A New Orleans Street Parade, and the Soul of the Mississippi Delta, all in one set.

He’s an Emmy nominated Composer, and winner of three 2009 Canadian Music Awards. His songs, voice and film scores have been heard on CBC Radio-Canada Live, Network Television, Commercials for giants of industry such as Apple Computer, Nissan & Wal-Mart. He is beginning to headline blues and Jazz festivals across Europe and Canada, his music is crossing over into mainstream pop culture.

His 2004 Hit, “Foreclose on the House of Love” was nominated for Blues song of the year, reached #9 on the charts, and helped acquire a Grammy nomination for Marcia Ball.

His 2009 single, “Christmas with the King” about an imaginary meeting with Elvis, received 15,000 downloads in 2 days from a special promotion from the Vancouver Province Newspaper. It received a 2011 BC Music award nomination best concept recording

Susan McCaslin

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Susan McCaslin is a Canadian poet and Faculty Emeritus of Douglas College in Westminster, BC where she taught English and Creative Writing for twenty-three years.  She is the author of eleven volumes of poetry, including her most recent, Demeter Goes Skydiving (University of Alberta Press, 2011).

The latter was a finalist in 2012 for the BC Book Prize (Dorothy Livesay Award) and the winner of the Alberta Book Publishing Award (Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award). Susan has recently published a volume of essays, Arousing the Spirit: Provocative Writings (Wood Lake Books, Kelowna, BC, 2011). She has edited two anthologies exploring the boundary between spirituality and poetry and is on the editorial board of Event: the Douglas College Review.

When not at her computer, Susan can be found being walked by her amazing mini-Australian Shepherd while composing odes on the dikes around Fort Langley.

www.susanmccaslin.ca.

Amanda Tosoff

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AMANDA TOSOFF – JAZZ PIANIST

Toronto-based jazz pianist and composer Amanda Tosoff has emerged as one of the top new talents on the Canadian jazz scene. Originally from White Rock BC, Amanda grew up in a musical family, and attended Semiahmoo high school, renowned for its big band jazz program under award-winning educator David Proznick. In 2005, Amanda earned her degree in jazz performance from Capilano University, where she studied with Canadian jazz greats Ross Taggart, Mike Allen, Chris Sigerson, Ihor Kukurudza and more. Amanda has performed with a long list of internationally recognized talent, including such luminaries as Ingrid Jensen, Jon Wikan, Phil Dwyer, Jodi Proznick, Ian Hendrickson-Smith, Christine Jensen, Joel Miller, Brad Turner, Steve Wallace, Campbell Ryga and many others. She has received mentoring and private instruction from some of the greatest pianists in Canada and the United States, including Don Thompson, Brad Turner, Bruno Hubert, George Colligan, Phil Dwyer and Uri Caine.

Amanda’s long-time band features fellow award-winning musicians Evan Arntzen (tenor and soprano saxophone), Sean Cronin (bass) and Morgan Childs (drums). With this group, Amanda has released 2 CDs on Vancouver’s Cellar Live label: Still Life (2006), and Wait and See (2008) featuring Juno award winning trumpeter Brad Turner. The Amanda Tosoff Quartet has opened for jazz legends Bobby Hutcherson, Renee Rosnes and Oliver Jones, and has been featured on CBC Radio programs Hot Air, Tonic, Jazz Beat and Canada Live. In 2008, the group was chosen as one of only seven Canadian bands to be featured on Espace Musique’s live concert series Portraits Jazz. They have also been featured on US radio, charting among the top 50 records on JazzWeek, and being chosen along with Oscar Peterson and Diana Krall for the CD sampler Take Five (National Public Radio).

The quartet has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award (2007) at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and the General Motors Grand Prix de Jazz at the Montréal Jazz Festival (2009). In 2010, the quartet was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Banff Centre Winter Workshop. Most recently, Amanda received a Canada Council grant to study with pianist Phil Markowitz in New York City for three months.

Amanda released her 3rd CD as a leader in the fall of 2010, the first release on her own record label Oceans Beyond Records. In addition to her long-time quartet, the album features NY-based trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, and Toronto’s Kelly Jefferson on tenor saxophone and William Carn on trombone. The album features nine new Tosoff originals, with influences ranging from Duke Ellington and Ray Charles to African grooves and modern pop music.

BERGMANN PIANO DUO

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Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann have been performing together as a duo since 1989 and are winners of international competitions. They perform a wide variety of repertoire and styles internationally in concert and with orchestras

Biography
The Bergmann Piano Duo’s dynamic and energetic performances of uniquely eclectic programmes have inspired audiences for more than two decades. Their recitals and concerts with orchestra have taken them to many parts of the world, including the United States, Italy, Germany, Holland, Greece and Canada. The duo has appeared at international festivals including: MusicFest Vancouver, the celebrated Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the Banff Arts Festival, the Royal Bank Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition, the International Two Piano Symposium and Schubertiade, Miami, the Tage für neue Musik, Darmstadt, the Braunschweiger Kammermusik Podium and at the EXPO 2000, Hannover. They have appeared with several North American orchestras such as the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the New World Symphony and the Canticum Novum of Santa Fe.

They have made recordings for the CBC, for several stations of the ARD in Germany and for National Public Radio in the USA. The duo has recorded several CDs, which appear on numerous lables on the CordAria and Arktos labels and has recorded William Bolcom’s complete works for two pianos for Naxos. As founding members of the International Piano Quartet they had the opportunity to record Stravinsky’s Les Noces under the direction of Robert Craft at the Abbey Road Studios in London. The CD first appeared on Koch International Classics and was re-released on Naxos. Their latest two releases on the Brilliant Classics label feature Marcel’s arrangement for 4 pianos of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and a collection of minimal music for multiple pianos (also featuring Marcel’s compositions).

Discover more at:

www.bergmannduo.com

www.facebook.com

Watch them at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/bergmannduo

Norman Foote

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Norman Foote

This celebrated Canadian entertainer has created a special niche in the music world and amassed a cross-generational following. Norman Foote’s musicality is like no other mixing clever hooks, witty wordplay and comedy all to great effect. His accolades include SOCAN’s Best Songwriter Award, US Parents’ Choice Awards, and National Publications Parenting Awards’ Gold Award, and most recently a JUNO. Norman has written and recorded songs for Disney Records, Shari Lewis, CBC Scoop & Doozie, Max and Ruby, Richard Scarry’s “Busytown” musical and many others. He has performed and worked with millions of children throughout North America, inspiring creativity through his songs, stories and innovative props.