It’s getting very merry around Flin Flon! It’s almost time for the Flin Flon Community Choir’s Christmas extravaganza, but more about that later in this column.
On Monday, Dec. 13, a brand new house concert series called the Flin Flon Flutist Series with local teen virtuoso Mikylo Odut on flute, accompanied by the always professional Anna Harrison on piano, began with a concert of classical and Christmas music.
The second outing for this new duo is Wednesday (as you read this) and it promises to be an educational as well as a completely charming evening. Mikylo will explain the origins of the Christmas Carols he will be playing as well as other pieces by the same composers.
The Flin Flon Arts Council proudly presents the Flin Flon Community Choir with special guest artist Jennifer Hanson in A Carpenter’s Christmas at the RH Channing Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 7:30 pm and again on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 2 pm.
There are still good seats available for both shows at Northern Rainbow’s End (have you seen their very special 12 Days of Christmas yet?) so do drop in to pick up your tickets.
Jennifer Hanson was born and grew up in Flin Flon, the youngest of seven children. She says she started singing for attention (understandable given the family dynamics in such a group), but anyone who appreciates the music scene in Flin Flon over the past 50 years knows it takes more than wanting to make it. Jennifer’s sisters are wonderfully talented singers and have graced our stages and cabarets for a long time.
Sister Susan (Lethbridge) was first to make the journey to Winnipeg in the 1980s where she joined Graham Shaw and the Sincere Serenaders to tour Canada and the United States and later The Rocki Rolletti Show. Sisters Cindy (Fahie) and Joni also joined The Hanson Sisters Band for many wonderful shows in Flin Flon and Winnipeg.
Jennifer went to the city right after high school and after a “short, throat-blistering career” in rock ’n’ roll she began to sing “the good stuff” which means jazz standards learned at her father’s (Bill Hanson) knee.
She can sing torch songs with the best, like Rosemary Clooney and Julie London. She can do significant justice to the great American songbook and she can throw in blues, Motown and pop for good measure.
She has two albums available, Something Cool which won a Prairie Music Award for Best Jazz Album in 1999, and How the Night People Pray, written and produced by Graham Shaw.
Jennifer moved to Atlanta, Georgia, several years ago and currently appears with The Del Baroni Big Band weekly, again to perform jazz. She will bring those years of experience and vocal chops to A Carpenter’s Christmas. And who knows, perhaps we will get a taste of the national anthem, maybe in the encore?
