New Brunswick-based woodwind quintet Ventus Machina will perform in Drayton on their first venture out of Atlantic Canada, just in time to celebrate the launch of their first album.
From Sept. 28 to Oct. 5 the group will be visiting Guelph, Drayton, Peterborough, Toronto, Sarnia and London as well as working with the students of Wilfrid Laurier and Western universities and musicians from the Kawartha Youth Orchestra.
The group has been entertaining music lovers in the Maritimes for the past five years and has decided to take its most popular show on the road to Ontario, the province which several group members used to call home.
“Bringing with them a unique and personable style, they hope to reach the heart of Ontario’s audiences in their first foray into Upper Canada,” states a press release about the tour.
“Sandwiched between the launch of their first album and a collaborative project with some of New Brunswick’s finest popular and bluegrass artists, this tour will be an opportunity for the quintet to present a program combining classics from the woodwind repertoire such as Paquito D’Rivera’s Aires Tropicales, to newly commissioned repertoire by composers Martin Kutnowski and Mike Titlebaum.
“Also on the program is a beautiful arrangement of Bernstein’s superb West Side Story Suite. The program is rounded out by a selection of stunning original arrangements of both South American and jazz-inspired repertoire.”
The Drayton performance is set for Sept. 29 at 7:30pm in Drayton at the home studio of Nadina Mackie Jackson at 16 Spring Street.
Mackie Jackson, a professional bassoonist, has hosted two concerts featuring Canadian folk legend Valdy and other top performers at her Drayton home.
Admission is by donation, and seats can be reserved by contacting Mackie Jackson at nadinamackiejackson@gmail.com or 416-453-7607.
