Sol Y Luna

This Wednesday June 2nd at 7:30pm, Ariel Barnes plays Sol Y Luna, a solo cello show here at Cafe for Contemporary Art.

Ariel Barnes enjoys a diverse career as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Over the past several years, he has performed to great acclaim in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Equally comfortable in genres of music ranging from the baroque to modern times, his performances have included evenings of Mozart’s chamber music to contemporary solo cello recitals.  As an avid chamber musician, he has enjoyed appearances at MusicFest Vancouver, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Mendocino Music Festival, Music at Port Milford, and Northern Lights Music Festival.

Along with colleagues Mary Sokol-Brown and Andrew Brown, Ariel is a member of Trio Accord, a Vancouver-based string trio which the Victoria Times praised for its “enchanting,” “exhilarating,” and “extremely moving” performances. Trio Accord have recently been return guests at the Northern Lights Music Festival in Ajijic, Mexico and are currently Faculty members at the Courtney Youth Music Camp in British Columbia.

Released in the fall of 2008, Trio Accord’s debut recording on Skylark Records of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations was nominated for Classical Record of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

He is currently Principal Cello of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, a member of The Turning Point Ensemble and National Broadcast Orchestra.  Ariel’s recordings can be heard on ATMA Classique, Skylark Records, Universal Music, 604 Records, Centrediscs, CBC Radio (including Espace Musique), CBC Television, Integrity Music, Za Discs, Disney Films, and Funktopus Records. His principal teachers have included Daniel Domb at the University of Toronto, Bruce Uchimura at Western Michigan University, Craig Weaver of the Seattle Symphony, and Eric Wilson at the University of British Columbia. In addition, he has received coaching from Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Janos Starker, Lawrence Lesser, Lorand Fenyves, and members of the Guarneri, Cleveland, Orford, and St. Lawrence String Quartets.

“Cellist Ariel Barnes, gave the night’s most mesmerizing musical

experience… The epic nature of this composition was expressed ideally by Ariel’s dazzling technique and personal connection.”

The Live Music Report, Toronto, Ontario

Tickets for this event will be available at the door for $20.00, and advance tickets will be available through Ariel.

Please contact Cafe for Contemporary Art for tickets/information

“The Solo Sessions” – aka Acoustic Night Returns!

Big news, people! And I mean Big….after a long 3 weeks with no live music, Acoustic Night is mounting a fierce comeback, with a snappy new name: The Solo Sessions.

This Saturday, between 7 and 9pm, come down to cafca to catch some of Vancouver’s hottest up-and-coming artists! We have eight extremely talented musicians lined up to play, plus some surprise special guests! I don’t know about you but the special guests really make me curious….I’m working, so I’ll be there – will you?

The best part of the event: it’s completely FREE! No cover charge. Now there’s really no excuse not to come out! We’re right by the seabus, close to all kinds of transportation; we have delicious food; and our coffee has been known to change lives! Factor in live, ridiculously awesome, free music and great people….you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do the math.

So to sum up:

• FREE live music
• some of Vancouver’s hottest artists
• AWESOME coffee
• AWESOME food
• AWESOME people

Now the only question left is how many people will you bring along?

See you there!

LOL,

Tim

PS – this night is going to be the HUGE, so if you want good seats – come early!

Merce Cunningham

I am sure everyone is blogging about this sort of stuff these days.   But I just found out that Merce Cunningham has passed and was sincerely shocked.  Taking people and circumstances for what they might be and embracing chance procedure what Cunningham and his partner John Cage contributed to contemporary arts and culture is so huge.  If you never had a chance to know who he was it might be nice to take a peak around and learn about a tremendously beautiful contributor to what might be/is.

I learned about his passing by a vid here on the nytimes site.  His dance company’s site is here.

Acoustic Night, Episode 3

I’ve been more than a little lackadaisical this week, hence the abominably late nature of this post. Sorry for that!

Anyways, our third Acoustic Night was by all accounts a roaring success! Thank you to all who came out. First up was Very Nice Treehouse, composed of our very own Holly, and her fiancé Scott. They play soft folk-rock and I loved hearing their music. They are very, very talented and you can catch them today at FolkFest! (That’s not true Tim!)I would be there, but I’m working (what a choice! Miss them or miss the opening? I couldn’t decide, so I settled for inaction).

Our second musician was Tony Farese. He plays a bluesy rock, and apologized for “ruining the chill mood” (don’t tell him that he didn’t!). He played some originals and some covers towards the end of his set. His day job includes doing covers, so he took requests at the end.

And I got a new camera! I’m not saying (writing?) that to make you all jealous, but it directly impacts the experience of our readers! You see, it films in HD! And the audio is fairly decent, too. So when you see that button beside our videos now, you’ll know that we’re not just fooling around.

As we have Woodfibre, the awesome 16mm experimental film loop, opening on Friday and on exhibit until Sunday, there will be no music night on Saturday this week. You can see Woodfibre on Friday between 6 and 9, and on Saturday and Sunday between 1 and 5 (same time for both days). I’ve seen bits of it already, it looks super-cool. Stop by and check it out! I’ll be working Friday and Satuday, 2-10 – say you read the blog post and watch me light up with joy!

Videos and tidbits after the jump.

Acoustic Night Numero Deux! 4 July

Last Saturday was our second Acoustic Night – we had three performers. First up was Doug Gordon, a new performer full of charisma and smiles. He played mainly covers, and gave us a little preview of what Tony Farese will be playing tonight! Next were The Voltophonix, composed of Brandon and Tak. They play instrumental rock (and do it very well). Besides wowing us with the cool name, the two guitarists brought a laid-back, chill sound to the café. We were glad to have them and hopefully we’ll see them back again.

Last, but certainly not least, was Jeremy Hanlon (his father lent us the PA for our first show). Jeremy plays guitar and has been singing for quite awhile. He’s a student at Creativ Music, over by Park and Tilford. Jeremy has a great voice and character aplenty. He’s a good friend of mine and is, among other things, completely unable to cover a song without changing it. His cover of Britney Spear’s “One More Time” had the audience coincidentally roaring with laughter and tapping their feet. He also played “Kill the Zombies”, a song that has taken the internet by storm and was a fan favourite.

Most unfortunately, my camera’s battery wasn’t up to taking videos, so all I have are pictures. On the brighter side, Brandon and Tak brought along an audio-recorder for the show, so I have most of the show recorded and I’ll post the audio, along with the pictures, as soon as I can.

Speaking of music, don’t forget that we have another show tonight! Playing is Very Nice Treehouse, composed of Holly (our resident Kiwi) and her fiancé Scott, along with Tony Farese. The show runs 7-9, and we’re open till 10. See you there!

LOL,

Tim

PS – my camera’s battery is ready to go for tonight, so there will be video aplenty!

Acoustic Night – Pe+Adam+Marek, Jess Perkins

On Saturday, cafca had its first-ever Acoustic Night! The show went very well…we sold so much earl grey tea that we ran out of teacup sets. We started selling it in to-go cups – that worked until we ran out of the teabag-things. After that it was free upgrades to a pot for all!

The show itself was full of talent. Performing were Pe + Adam + Marek, a very talented acoustic rock trio, and Jessica Perkins, who wowed us with her voice and her smile. Up first was Jess – she and her band (I’d tell you their name but it changes constantly) performed at CityFest and brought the house down…the show was outside, but the metaphor stands regardles. I’ve never seen such stage presence and energy from a group as young as theirs. Jess brought similar energy and presence to cafca. Included in her setlist were Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me”, and three great originals, two of which are here: “The Backroad”, and “Make Me Believe”.

(videos and more after the jump)