Vancouver Island Symphony celebrates festive season with Christmas concert series
The Vancouver Island symphony is set to deliver some holiday cheer to the Mid- and North Island through a series of Christmas concerts this weekend.
The series, "Keep Calm and Carol On," features four shows across Campbell River, Courtney, and Nanaimo.
"(It’s) really just a celebration of the fact that we haven’t had a real big Christmas celebration of music up island with the Vancouver Island Symphony," said principal trumpet player, Stevan Paranosic.
The symphony’s back row brass section is teaming up with its festival brass for its largest concert of the year.
"We did a series of concerts last summer with the brass group for only 50 people. So, the chance to get back into the big theatre, like the Port Theatre, or the other theatres we’re playing at this weekend, for a large audience is just going to be phenomenal," said Paranosic.
The ensemble of 13 musicians is set to perform some classic holiday favorites – with a full brass sound.
"We’ll just be hitting you in the face with a lot of sound. It will be a bit like being at a rock concert but it’s a Christmas concert," said Paranosic.
"(We're) mashing up some Christmas music with some traditional classical music and putting both of them together," he added. "And we'll be presenting some offbeat arrangements just to add a bit of quirkiness and some fun to it."
Keep Calm and Carol On begins Friday night at the Sid Williams Theatre in Courtney. Two shows are scheduled for the Port Theatre in Nanaimo on Saturday before the concert series wraps up at the Tidemark Theatre in Campbell River on Sunday.
A full list of showtimes and tickets are available at the Vancouver Island Symphony website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
U.S. flight attendant indicted in attempt to record teen girl in airplane bathroom
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States.