Beethoven fans should note that Encore Peninsula Concert’s Piano Fest 2020 continues to celebrate the composer’s 250th birthday this month with two more Sunday afternoon concerts – each with ‘orchestral support’ supplied by Russia’s acclaimed Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet.
On March 8, a gala performance with piano students of series founder/artistic director Eugene Skovorodnikov at the Vancouver International School of Music, will feature Beethoven’s Piano Concertos No. 1 and 2, and the first movement of No. 3., while on March 22, Italian pianist Antonio di Cristofano will play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5 in its entirety.
Coming up: a solo concert by Polish/Belgian pianist Joanna Trzeciak on April 26 will focus on Beethoven’s smaller pieces.
Venue for the 3 p.m. concerts is Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 2350 148 St. Tickets ($30, $25 students and seniors) are available from 604-541-2199, at White Rock Community Centre, at the door at Mount Olive, or online at whiterockcity.ca
Club 240’s Friday night dances continue this week (March 6) with the classic and contemporary rock and pop of The Nitehawks, featuring the singing of versatile Daillyn Patrick and the lead guitar and vocals of Steve Wahrer.
The music gets underway at 8 p.m. at the Crescent Legion, 2643 128 St., and tickets ($20) are available at the door, at the legion box office, 604-535-1043, or at brownpapertickets.ca
Opening of Better Nudes & Gardens, collaborative art show by painters and art educators Susan J. Falk, Tony O’Regan, Marilyn Dyer and multi-media artist Kat Siemens, takes place this Saturday (March 7, 4-7 p.m.) at the Landmark Pop-Uptown Gallery at Central Plaza.
The show, running until March 28, fuses new art works including figurative and landscape studies with vintage wearables (as well as some up-cycled furniture by Catherine Honeywell).
The Pelican Rouge at Central Plaza may be under new ownership but the venue’s popular policy of a weekly musical open-mic hosted by Dennis Peterson is still a feature every Saturday, 6-9 p.m.
Sign-up for artists is at 5:30 p.m.; wine, beer and liqueurs are available, along with homemade sandwiches, soups and bakery items.
St. Patrick’s Day is rapidly approaching, but the celebration starts a few days early at White Rock’s Blue Frog Studios (Saturday, March 14, 1328 Johnston Rd.) with a performance billed as Celtic With An Edge – featuring internationally renowned South Surrey-based Celtic/roots fusion band Tiller’s Folly and dancer-choregrapher Joel Hanna, whose exciting style fuses elements of tap, Irish dance, percussion and martial arts athleticism.
There are still some tickets available for the second (8:45 p.m.) show at bluefrogstudios.ca
A panel discussion of the art and life of the late South Surrey painter/printmaker/videographer Don Li-Leger will be presented Saturday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m. at the Surrey Art Gallery, 13750 88 Ave.
The Surrey Civic Treasure’s widow, Cora Li-Leger, will join fellow artists Shengtian Zheng and Jeremy Herndl to discuss Li-Leger’s approach to work in different media, and his lasting influence on the arts both close-to-home and around the globe.
Moderated by exhibitions and collections curator Jordan Strom, the discussion is a companion piece to the gallery’s ongoing retrospective, Don Li-Leger: Counting the Steps of the Sun, which continues to March 22.