Season 2020 - 2022

Beatlemaniacs

These charismatic musicians recreate the sound, look, energy, and humour of The Beatles. The four lads take the audience on a nostalgia-filled trip through the masterful Sgt. Pepper’s and later albums like “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be.” With multiple wardrobe changes, choreographed lighting, visual effects, and multimedia, they create a live concert experience that has induced laughing, crying, and even some screaming for more. A headliner on Royal Caribbean International Cruises, the band was voted Best Musical Act. One traveler wrote: “As many Beatles tribute bands I've seen – and I’ve seen a lot – the Beatlemaniacs are truly the best out there’”

The Moanin’ Frogs

Featuring all six saxophones from soprano to bass, The Moanin Frogs achieve the “perfect blend of expertise, charm and entertainment.” Classically trained, they deliver dynamic and technically precise performances of classical, ragtime, pop and jazz. The Moanin’ Frogs have performed for educational programs and in venues small and large across the USA and abroad, including at The Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., in France, and with the United States Air Force Band of the West. They garnered first prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition. A critic has exclaimed that they play with such precision, it is “as if controlled by one central brain.”

Axiom Brass

Chicago-based Axiom Brass has established itself as a major force in brass chamber music. Praised for their high level of musicality and technical ability, Axiom has won major chamber music competitions, including the Preis der Europe-Stadt Passau in Germany, the Jeju City International Brass Quintet Competition in South Korea and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in Indiana. In addition to performing, Axiom is committed to enhancing the musical life of communities and educating the next generation of musicians. Their ground-breaking programming, which includes jazz and Latin music, string quartet transcriptions and original compositions, has captured the imaginations of audiences in North America, Europe and Asia.

The Young Beethoven

We are celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth with a closer look at his music before he turned 30 and became one of classical music’s all-time greats. Bringing the young Beethoven to life is an eleven-member Vancouver ensemble, headed by violinist Nancy DiNovo and clarinetist José Franche-Ballester. Among the featured works is the famous Septet in E-flat Major, Opus 20, written for strings and winds. Beethoven himself wrote, “I wish they would burn the piece... nobody is listening to anything else I have written.” Impresario and raconteur, George Zukerman will introduce and narrate the program.

The 5 Browns

The five Brown siblings (dubbed “the Fab Five” by People Magazine) return to Kelowna to share their five-piano arrangements of festive Christmas music written through the ages. Ryan, Melody, Gregory, Deondra and Desirae Brown were the first family of five to attend the Juilliard School simultaneously. Their individual and collective careers have taken them around the world, performing with orchestras, as soloists, duos and as “The 5 Browns.” Their complex arrangements of classical, jazz and popular favorites reveal their deep connection to the music and fulfill their desire to wake up classical music by introducing it to the largest audience possible.

True North Brass

For over twenty years the True North Brass has been a prominent fixture on the landscape of brass chamber music. In 2018 the True North Brass reemerges onto the Canadian and international concert stage with new membership, a new sound and new repertoire, reestablishing itself as one of the world’s finest brass ensembles.

The new True North Brass, representing some of Canada’s most prominent orchestral brass players, is carrying on the True North Brass tradition, equally at home in recital, in music education or collaborating with symphony orchestras.

Goh Ballet

The young dancers of the Goh Ballet will perform a dazzling selection of large and small group pieces from well known classical works, such as The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and Ocean & Pearls, as well as solo performances of more contemporary pieces. The Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, founded in 1978, is recognized internationally for its high caliber classical ballet training and performances. The ever-expanding repertoire ranges from classical and contemporary ballet to jazz, character, and Chinese dance, with their annual Nutcracker a perennial favorite. The company has toured around the world: throughout Asia, France and the United States.

Ulysses Quartet

Founded in 2015, with musicians from Canada, the United States and Taiwan, the Ulysses Quartet has distinguished itself in many competitions, including a career development grant at the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition; first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition; and the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Critics praise their textural versatility, grave beauty, avid enthusiasm, and rare chemistry. For the last three years, Ulysses was in residence at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans and now are Fellows of the Juilliard School.

The Winnipeg Singers

The Winnipeg Singers, Winnipeg's premiere choir, has long been regarded as on one of Canada's finest choral ensembles. The choir's mandate is to make a diversity of choral music, performed to the highest standard, accessible to a growing audience. The Winnipeg Singers consists of 24 trained voices, performing music that spans the times from the Renaissance to the present. Each year the choir commissions new Canadian works and premieres other new works for its Manitoba audiences. It presents a concert series each year, engaging some of North America's finest musicians as guests.