Seven Things to Do in Metro Vancouver Dec. 6-12: The story behind Vince Guaraldi's classic Charlie Brown score, winter solstice music, and more
Credit to Author: Shawn Conner| Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2019 19:00:38 +0000
Whether you’re looking for date ideas, free things to do or just something fun to do in downtown Vancouver, you can’t go wrong with our list of events happening around Metro Vancouver between Dec. 6-12.
Headlining this week’s picks is Music on Main’s Music for the Winter Solstice.
For more ideas, click HERE for our coverage of Vancouver’s arts scene, or HERE to search our entertainment listings database.
Here are seven things to do in Metro Vancouver this week:
When: Dec. 11 and 12, 8 p.m.
Where: Heritage Hall, 3102 Main St.
Tickets and info: From $15, at musiconmain.ca
Music on Main’s 2015-16 composer-in-residence, Caroline Shaw (pictured) is a New York-based vocalist, violinist, composer, and producer. She has collaborated with musicians from hip-hop and pop (Kanye West, The National, Sara Bareilles) to opera (Renée Fleming, Anne Sofie von Otter, Dawn Upshaw). She is one of the performers in Music for the Winter Solstice, along with singer/songwriter Gabriel Kahane and pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa. The programmer includes music by Shawn, Arvo Pärt, Alfredo Santa Ana, Rodney Sharman, Gabriel Kahane, the Wyrd Sisters, and the current composer-in-residence, Sabrina Schroeder.
When: Dec. 10
Where: Astoria
Tickets and info: $14 at showpass.com
What better way to get ready for the holidays than some improvisational psyche-rock? Fronted by the heavily-bearded Ethan Miller (Comets on Fire), Bay Area underground faves Howlin’ Rain have been frying brains since 2004. Their latest release is Under the Wheels (Vol. 1), the first in what is intended as a series of new live recordings; it’s available in limited-edition vinyl in assorted colours. Of the group’s last album of new material, 2018’s The Alligator Bride, a review at echoesanddust.com says that “the punchlines remain, the jams are still there, but to the forefront are wonderful melodies, all built into a gleaming production reminiscent of the great AOR classics of the ‘70s.”
When: Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Surrey Arts Centre
Tickets and info: From $24, tickets.surrey.ca
A Surrey tradition for 30 years, the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir (they’re not all Welsh btw) returns with a new show. Christmas Traditions from Around the World is just that, a set of songs from Catalonia to the Caribbean, along with Celtic favourites. The VWMC is also performing at various other venues around the Lower Mainland, so check out their schedule at vancouverchoir.ca.
When: Dec. 11 & 12
Where: Shadbolt Centre, Burnaby
Tickets: From $15 at tickets.shadboltcentre.com
Jerry Granelli tells the tale of how the beloved soundtrack to the Peanuts classic A Charlie Brown Christmas came to be. In a nutshell, the San Francisco-born, now Halifax-based drummer was the newest member of the Vince Guaraldi Trio when, in 1965, he accompanied Guaraldi and Fred Marshall (bass) into a San Francisco studio one afternoon. In just one three-hour session, the trio recorded the music that has since become synonymous with the animated Christmas special.
When: Dec. 8 at 3 p.m.
Where: Orpheum Theatre
Tickets: From $15 at vanrecital.com
Vancouver Recital Society presents UK cello phenomenon Sheku Kanneh-Mason (pictured) along with pianist and sibling Isata Kanneh-Mason on the only Canadian engagement on their North American tour. Sheku made his sold-out debut on the VRS stage at the Vancouver Playhouse in December 2017, and since then he’s performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle among other gigs. His debut album Inspiration was the bestselling classical album in the UK in 2018; not to be outdone, Isata’s 2019 album Romance, a portrait of the life of composer and pianist Clara Schumann, topped the UK Classical Artist Chart this summer. The Kanneh-Masons’ program includes selections by Beethoven, Lutoslawski, Barber, and Rachmaninoff.
When: Until Dec. 24
Where: Improv Centre, Granville Island
Tickets: $12.75-29.75 at vtsl.com
Dashing Prince Rudolph and the non-royal Meaghan Sparkle are about to get married in the heretofore unknown small country of Improvanzia. In Merry Kissmas— A Royal Romance, Vancouver TheatreSports parodies clichés and tropes from holiday TV specials and films as improvisers play off audience suggestions for characters and situations. Flashbacks take the audience back to the couple’s courtship leading up to the day of the wedding, Kissmas Day. Suitable for families with children ages eight and up.
When: Dec. 6 at 8 p.m.
Where: St. James Hall
Tickets: $25 advance at tickets.capilanou.ca, $30 at the door
Vocalist Lucy Woodward and guitarist Charlie Hunter are known as solo artists as well as session and live players. Collectively, they’ve toured and recorded with D’Angelo, Rod Stewart, Snarky Puppy, John Mayer, Pink Martini, Norah Jones and Celine Dion. On their first album as a duo, Music! Music! Music!, they cover blues, soul and funk songs by artists ranging from Blind Willie Johnson (Soul of a Man) to Nina Simone (Be My Husband) to Terence Trent D’Arby (Wishing Well). An allaboutjazz.com review of a summer show says that “Hunter and Woodward had enough chemistry between them to ignite a couple dozen Bunsen burners.”
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