Join us @ the Winspear Thursday January 1, 2009 at 2:30 pm for Salute to Vienna.  This concert features the beauty and exhilaration of Johann Strauss’ waltzes, polkas and marches. The orchestra also accompany opera singers from Vienna and Budapest, and dancers from prominent the Budapest Ballet dressed in traditional costume. The climax of the program is the Radetzky March, where traditionally, the audience joins in clapping to celebrate the New Year. Find out more.

Blue Yonder has completed their new self-titled CD.  The New Castle Pub will be hosting the band on Dec 8 with special guests Dave “Crawdad” Cantera and guests.  Yours truly will be sitting in with Blue Yonder, and I am lucky enough to have been included on a track from their new CD.

This Indian and modern dance fusion explores the aspects of love from a women’s perspective. Usha Gupta new production “Nari, nari, nari – my love.” can be seen Dec 6 & 7 at the John L. Haar theater in Grant MacEwen College.  Dancers Tamara Bliss, Madhu Nataraj and Riya Mittal  are joined by composer/tabla-wizard Praveen D. Rao and John Calverley on violin. Madhu and Praveen have come all the way from India to perform in this show. This new production will be my fourth collaboration with Usha.

The Wye String Ensemble is holding a string music camp September 5-7 2008 at Van Es Camp south-east of Edmonton.  Director Murray Vaasjo has asked me to teach a class in ’some style other than classical’.  I’ve writen the piece ‘Wye Blues’ for the occasion.  Other instructors include: Aaron Au(Vln), Virginie Gagne(Vln), Anna Kozak(Vln), Rhonda Henshaw(Vla), Julie Amundsen(Cello), John McCormick(Per).

Mercury Opera’s founder and Artistic Director Daria (Dacia) Parada has asked my to play violin for her latest artistic endeavor -Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.  A Gala event with take place at Giovanni Caboto park (little italy) on August 12.  Performances continue August 14-22 at Edmonton’s Fringe Festival.  For more check out: www.mercuryopera.com

I will be playing once again with Shumka and a small orchestra of 30 or so musicans, June 20th, 2008 at the Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton for an reprise of there most popular repertoire. There will also be some special guests performing.

www.shumka.com

That’s right!  We’ll be at ‘The Auburn Saloon’ for the Calgary Jazz Fest.
Thursday June 26th
Door at 8PM,  Show at 9PM
Tickets are: $12 in Advance  $15 at the door
Hope to see you there!
Click ‘links’ to find the Bullies web page
www.calgaryjazz.com

I will be performing June 7th & 8th at the MacLab Centre of Performing Arts in Leduc, Alberta with the ‘Alberta Zirka Ukrainian Performers’.  A small ensemble of 7 or so musicians has been asked to accompany them for ‘The Lashky Project – Dances from a Ukrainian Village’.  I’m really looking forward to playing some fun new music and make some new friends.

This group is based in Calmar and was founded as the ‘Calmar School of Ukrainian Dance’ in 1976 by a handful families interested in maintaining their Ukrainian heritage and culture through dance. They boast over 450 dancers from Calmar and the surrounding communities of Thorsby, Warburg, Leduc, Devon, Beaumont, Millet, Drayton Valley and Edmonton.

Ever wanted to create music on the spot?

Have you wondered how to back-up singers and craft interesting solos? Need a place to start? John W. Calverley’s ‘Improvisational Method for Violin’ takes you through basic theory, fingering for various scales and arpeggios, and ways to create and play over your own chord progressions. The accompanying CD includes Calverley’s performances of ethic folk music, fiddle tunes, swing-jazz and his own compositions. Play along with chording tracks for hours of fun and exploration on the violin. Check out the store for this book and more.

Fiery, kinetic, daring and dynamic,Back & Forth … find yourself is currently in development, this production is an explosive exploration of traditional dance and modern forms.  Plans for the production include an extensive tour of North America, Europe and the Middle East.

This spectacle of motion and music is the creation of Vinok Executive Director and co-founder Leanne Koziak in collaboration with up-and-coming Slovakian choreographer Lukáš Cabalka.  Cabalka, who relocated to Edmonton from Bratislava, has spent the past 9 months collaborating with the company on various projects.

Info available @ www.vinok.ca

It was a great pleasure to perform as concert master for Shumka.  A small orchestra of 30 of so local musicians rocked Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium.

The Moksha Ensemble is five piece, instrumental world fusion group.  The ensemble consists of John Calverley on violin, Kirk Bishop on guitars, Ojas Joshi on Indian tabla and various percussion, Travis Short on bass, and Dennis Boisvert on the drum kit. The contrast of sounds and rhythms between two strong percussionists, adds an interesting and exciting dimension to their pieces. Moksha Ensemble’s public debut was captured on a self-produced demo CD, ‘Live’. There music is a true dialogue between cultural idioms, and is a continual source of learning and inspiration. The paring of Ojas and Dennis provided a unique challenge for Moksha.  Aside from the obvious differences in rhythmic idioms, was the drastically different dynamic space that each occupies.  Both Ojas and Dennis had to develop new techniques on their instruments, and implement creative sound reinforcement, in order to successfully blend and unify their sound. Our first studio offering ‘Lady Sun’ showcases all of these ideals and is a culmination of the groups’ first year as an ensemble. Recording was finished in December of 2003 and the disc was released in April of 2004. ‘Lady Sun’ blends the ethnic flavors of the east with the western Jazz and Classical mediums to achieve a singular sound that embraces both meditation and movement.