Festival Hall Centre for the Performing Arts

Our Season Finale features Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals. We have two local, and very talented pianists performing with us for the Carnival of the Animals: Keegan Lazarus and Elena Semenets.

We will also be joined by Doug Hempstead of the CBC as he narrates. Opening with Offenbach’s Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld and ending with Franck’s Symphony in D Minor will make this a finale to remember.

Petawawa & Pembroke Public Libraries are hosting an Art Contest, requesting submissions for all 14 movements of Carnival of the Animals.

The winners will be projected on the screen at the concert while we play. All submissions will be displayed at the libraries the week before the concert, and then moved to Festival Hall lobby as an exhibit on concert night.

Contest is open to ALL AGES and invites a variety of mediums. More details in the documents below; feel free to forward them. Submission forms can also be picked up at either Petawawa or Pembroke Public Library.

Facebook event for sharing: www.facebook.com/events/Carnival-Art-Contest
Deadline for submissions: April 19

Laura Vokey, Coordinator of Education Outreach

Pembroke Symphony Orchestra

www.facebook.com/Pembroke-Symphony-Orchestra

www.pembrokesymphonyorchestra.ca

Get Ready! Canada's newest hit show is coming to Pembroke!

Motown Soul is a live concert experience celebrating some of the biggest names in music such as Diana Ross and The Supremes, The Temptations, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye and soulful favourites such as Aretha Franklin and James Brown.

This show brings you the exquisite vocal harmonies of our leading ladies, Cathy, Marlene and Amoy, performing alongside special guest performer from Las Vegas, Grady Harrell. This outstanding cast of performers will deliver a powerful and soulful performance as you have never heard or seen before, bringing you back in time to that special era from the 60s when music and soul came together.

Don't miss this highly captivating performance accompanied by a live band. With songs like “Higher and Higher”, “My Girl”, “You Can’t Hurry Love”, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", “Natural Woman” and many others, you’ll be singing and dancing all night long to this timeless music.

May 24 7 pm

May 25 1 pm matinee

May 25 7 pm

May 31 6 pm

June 1 6 pm

Formed in 2014, two years after INXS stopped touring, KICK – The INXS Experience has beautifully managed to capture the spirit of INXS in both its sound and live performance, bringing the highest level of musicianship to the audience while showing a true passion for the music of INXS. Vocalist, guitarist, and singer-songwriter Cory Massi is the founding frontman of KICK, and has long held a respect and admiration for the late great Michael Hutchence. Massi even auditioned for the reality TV show, Rockstar: INXS, in 2004, where contestants competed to become the new lead vocalist for INXS. What convinced him to audition? "I loved Michael's singing and his personality," notes Massi. "I saw INXS when I was a teenager in '88 and '89; they were great, and the people were just gaga over them. Michael left a big impression with his star power; he really had it, that guy. Our range is similar and I just went for it. I had to sing “Mystify” acappella so I was kind of nervous because I didn't have a band behind me. There was a camera a foot away from my face and it was out of my comfort zone; I would probably still feel uncomfortable today. I didn't get the gig: I was one of the last people to try out and I think by the time I auditioned they had already made their selection. No excuse: it was a good experience. We include “Mystify” in our set and when I sing it, I have my band with me and we love the music, so we play it with a lot of heart." 

Sounding like legendary frontman Michael Hutchence is no easy task. "I guess the hardest thing, the most challenging thing when I started KICK," acknowledges Massi, "was capturing the great variety in Hutchence's voice. He can sound sensitive and soft and he can be super strong and really belt it out and sometimes that all happens within one phrase or even a word. It took a lot of self-control to capture how he projects his lyrics and the music. It's impossible to really sound and look like him; he's an Adonis, another Jim Morrison, Morrison in a pop sense. I can't mimic that; all I can do is do my best to capture his spirit."

The focus has been on faithfully recreating the music in its most powerful sense; an in-the-pocket bottom end from bass player Don Leslie and drummer Johnny Dee, a brilliant combination of piano and synth by Mark Goodnough, the signature guitar tones produced by guitarist Todd Kingand Jason Taylor, the saxophone by Nottingham, England's Tom Wheat, and the spot-on lead vocals by Cory Massi, all lend to a powerful high-energy show. KICK – The INXS Experience will take you back. It will reignite your passion for INXS. It will introduce you to music that is still as fresh today as the day it was written; from “Original Sin” to “Elegantly Wasted” and everything in between, including (but not limited to) "Need You Tonight,“ ”New Sensation,“ ”What You Need,“ ”Don't Change,“ ”Listen Like Thieves,“ ”The One Thing,“ ”Bitter Tears,“ ”Suicide Blonde,“ ”Not Enough Time,“ ”Beautiful Girl,“ and ”Devil Inside."

The band hears it, time and time again:

“This was like seeing INXS all over again, I'm their biggest fan.”

“That was such an awesome surprise; I'd almost forgotten how much I love INXS!”

“I came thinking I would only know a couple of songs, but I knew every single one – and the words, too.”

"Cory Massi is Michael Hutchence 2.0, fabulous!

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KICK website: www.get-kicked.com

ABBA Revisited is North America’s #1 tribute to ABBA and it’s members have been dazzling audiences across the globe since the year 2001. ABBA REVISITED recreates the magic of ABBA with authentic costumes, spectacular harmonies and note-perfect musicianship taking their audience on a musical journey back in time. From Vegas to Bermuda, Mexico to Dubai, and Guatemala, ABBA Revisited recreated the show stopping look and sound that ABBA fans around the world can’t deny! This show is a MUST SEE!!!

https://vimeo.com/327978327

$49.50 plus hst and ticketing fees - main floor

$41.00 plus hst and ticketing fees - balcony