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Elly on the Arts: Holiday merriment continues with music

It’s December already! How is it that I have this experience every year? There is probably no help for me, so I will get on with the arts and culture events coming up and spare you the wailing and gnashing of teeth that I am doing daily as I fail to
christmas tunes

It’s December already! How is it that I have this experience every year? There is probably no help for me, so I will get on with the arts and culture events coming up and spare you the wailing and gnashing of teeth that I am doing daily as I fail to “get ready” for Christmas.

Flin Flon Arts Council presents the Flin Flon Community Choir (FFCC) concert, “A Canadian Christmas,” featuring (partially) homegrown jazz performer Joanna Majoko, on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 2 pm at the Community Hall. This will be a fantastic opportunity to hear the full choir sing Christmas favourites in four-part harmony and celebrate the winter holiday season with Joanna’s beautiful song stylings.

She has been living and working out of Toronto for several years now after growing up in Germany, Zimbabwe and Canada. She credits this diversity in her roots with her one-of-a-kind musical sound. She obtained a bachelor of music in jazz studies at the University of Manitoba and, after moving to Toronto, has established quite a career in Canada’s biggest jazz scene.

Other guest performers include Lane Laderoute and Rob Mote in a duet.

The arts council will host a relaxed-atmosphere lounge with wintertime refreshments in the area behind the raised seating before and after the show. Tickets are available at Northern Rainbow’s End.

On Friday, Dec. 14, the community is invited to a Blueberry (Ice) Jam (BBJ) at Hapnot Collegiate Dorothy Ash Theatre. Several members of the community choir, Johnny’s Social Club alumni and BBJ performers will be on hand to help the community singalong to Handel’s “Messiah.” This will start out as serious business, but may devolve from there into… Well, it’s pointless to speculate.

The event is a fundraiser for the fabulous summer festival that began last August and now seems to have a life of its own. There will be an admission fee. All would-be choristers are advised to bring music if they have it  – if not, read from a friend’s score. The maestro will be the great Jonathan Griffith (on film with the FFCC in the Lincoln Centre, 2013). It is going to be such incredible fun.

The final event for this edition of the arts column is Borealis Chamber Choir’s service of Lessons and Carols, to be sung at the Lutheran Church at 3 pm on Sunday, Dec. 16. Borealis has more than 20 members now. They have recruited wonderful singers and a trio of conductors in Courtney Campbell, Anna Harrison and Angela Ishaka, who are leading them to make beautiful music. They will be singing traditional carols and new arrangements, and we have it on good authority that Mark Kolt has written a new carol for the choir that will be debuted at this event. This annual event has become the real start of the Christmas season for many in our communities and offers a chance to give back in the form of donations to the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank. This year, the food bank has the most need for money to purchase fresh vegetables for the families that utilize its services. Please keep that in mind as you pack up to come to the church.

The doors will be open early if you want to get a good seat.

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