We’re launching our new Intersections series in Kitchener-Waterloo this coming Thursday, October 18. I created this series because I’ve met so many interesting artists in the last few years who really deserved their own shows. I want to give them 90 minutes to be who they are — to play, talk, and share images and video. The thing all of these artists have in common is that they’re not “straight classical.” Their art intersects with classical music but doesn’t live exclusively there.

Take Wallace Halladay, our guest on Thursday …

He’ll bring us through the entire history of the saxophone, from early salon music to Charlie Parker to early concert pieces by Schmitt and Ibert. We’ll end two pieces by living composers, Muldowney and Kancheli.

Kancheli’s “Night Prayers” is a 20-minute piece which is more or less a musical haunted house (all of his music is, really …), we’re going to turn down the lights and project some images to go along with it.

After Wallace, we’ll feature composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and mad violinist Gilles Apap.

I hope you get the idea of what this series is about. I don’t know another orchestra that does it … I’ll let you know if it works!

Here are a few choice images from Kitchener-Waterloo’s Oktoberfest Parade.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Here’s my carriage and cool outfit.

with the President of Oktoberfest and Miss Oktoberfest.
With the Presidents of the various German clubs in KW and their “misses!”

– Got my Lederhosen (pictures to follow)

– Had my first shot of Jägermeister in many, many, years

– Discovered that I have formidable crossbow skills (see photo below)

– Drank beer and ate sausage

News Flash! I’m the Grand Marshal of the Kitchener-Waterloo OKTOBERFEST! The parade will be seen by 135,000 people live and 1.2 million on national television. It’s the biggest Oktoberfest outside of Munich. I’m currently considering what my wave is going to look like, and feeling fortunate that I really like beer.

Wacky photos to follow, I’m sure.

This is the video we produced and ran opening night at the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. It caused a huge reaction on Friday night, as the audience cheered during the video at all the right times. I think it is a good reflection of the vibe we want to create in the hall. It was produced by JUMP Creative in Toronto. Notice how the used the colored lines of my own website in their video — very cool!