The Cowichan Performing Arts Centre Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Ashley chats with Vancouver Island-born soprano Eve Daniell about her illustrious career; singing for the queen and her upcoming recital with music entirely by female composers on Oct 1 at 7:30pm on cowichanpac.ca 

ABOUT EVE 

Canadian/British Soprano Eve Daniell was born in British Columbia, Canada and grew up on Vancouver Island. She currently lives between Canada and the United Kingdom after moving to the UK to study at the Royal Academy of Music on a Sainsbury Award and the Catherine Osborne Scholarship.  There she won the highly prestigious Pavarotti Prize before graduating from the Royal Academy Opera in 2016.

Join John Ivison, the songwriter of Cowichan local band Cabin Fever as he talks about his musical life plays live songs in the studio, and talks about his first guitar!

Cabin Fever is a dynamic group of five Cowichan Region-based artists whose wholly original tunes are full of heart and energy, and their 30-minute set will leave you cheering with joy.

Cabin Fever’s 35-minute concert is entirely original and features music composed by the Kuecks twins and bluesy local guitar favourite and fire protection expert John Ivison.

Cabin Fever includes five highly-regarded multi-instrumentalists: Thomas Kuecks (guitar, flute, and vocals), James Kuecks (guitar and vocals), John Ivison (guitar and vocals), David Lane (keyboards), and Rod Gray (bass)

You can buy tickets to their live stream concert here.

We chat with Veda Hille,  a Vancouver musician, composer, theatre maker, and performer. She writes songs, makes records, co-writes musicals, collaborates in devised theatre, and fulfills other interesting assignments as they arise.

Veda performs in a wide array of places, alone or with bands, ensembles, symphonies, and casts. Her career spans 30 years of working in Canada and abroad, and shows no sign of flagging.

Ashley talks with Veda about her career, the challenges of this moment in history, and making it as a singer-songwriter.

Check out Veda’s upcoming online performance from the Cultch on Sunday, May 24 at 12pm. Details are here.

more info at cowichanpac.ca 

We talk with Chris McGregor,  the artistic director of Axis Theatre about the work the company does, his history with the company, and what he and Axis Theatre our doing during the COVID-19 pandemic to continue their creativity. 

We spoke with Cowichan Performing Arts Centre's  Assistant Technical Director Dave Barton about his illustrious career and then talked with one of Vancouver Island's most beloved songwriter's Brodie Lee Dawson about her music, her trip to Nashville and the importance of the arts during these strange days. 

Find out more about Brodie here

We chat with Natalie about her new album and her upcoming performance on March 12 at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre, plus a special performance of "I Can't Make You Love Me" from her brand new album, Sketches

Listen to her new album here

GET TICKETS TO THE SHOW

Buy your tickets at the cowichanpac website here

In the first episode of the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre podcast we chat with JUNO-winning Canadian jazz artist and singer-songwriter Laila Biali. 

We chat with talented multi-instrumentalist Jared Popma about his musical roots in the Cowichan region, his love of guitars, and his ability to blend jazz, funk, and pop into a delectable blend. 

Jared also plays some of his music live on the show! 

Jared Popma is a singer-songwriter/guitarist born in the Cowichan Valley and currently based out of Nanaimo BC. He grew up studying a variety of instruments and pulls inspiration from an array of different styles and genres. Jared has just recently completed his first year of Jazz Studies at Vancouver Island University and is excited to be performing with some of his extremely talented friends: Drake Shoemaker (Bass), Ryan Bennet (Drums) and Jamie Johnstone (Tap).

Watch Jared's concert online on June 11 at 7:30pm. Tickets are here

We dig into the fascinating project that is Zee Zee Theatre's Virtual Humanity. Details are here

Contributions from 

Lama Mugabo 

Kevin Scow

Rudy Krause 

Zee Zee Theatre presents the world premiere of Virtual Humanity, streaming online from March 6 to 28, 2021. The deeply personal, one-on-one experience adapts the company’s annual Human Library project into the digital space, where participants can ‘check out’ a human for a candid conversation about their life experiences, culture and beliefs—including such titles as Perspective of a Mixed Man;  Indigi-Queer Identities, Two Spirit and Beyond; I am not a scammer, and more. Co-curated by Sam Chimes and Bunny (Daisy Joe), the online edition will feature an array of new and returning ‘Virtual Humans’—with a particular emphasis on representation from BIPOC individuals—available for 20-minute loans over the course of four weekends.

Day Passes are now available at zeezeetheatre.ca. Reservations are $5 with a subsequent request to ‘Pay What It’s Worth’ after the show. The full roster of titles available each day for bookings will be announced the morning of through a secret portal at zeezeetheatre.ca.

Virtual Humanity is inspired  by the Human Library—created by Stop The Violence (Copenhagen)—and presented with support from community partner Vancouver Public Library.