By Staff
March 17th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Lowville Festival will again be presenting artistic experiences for audiences old and young in north Burlington’s Escarpment country May 26th to May 28th.
This year’s Festival, the third annual, will a couple of stellar headline attractions, including legendary Canadian guitarist Liona Boyd and the celebrated Toronto comedy troupe Second City.
What are the sounds of the Escarpment?
The Lowville Festival defines itself as “a festival of all the arts for the artist in all of us”. The ultimate aim is not only to feature all of the performing, visual and literary arts, but also to provide opportunities for attendees to participate in the creative process. To that end, local singers are again invited to join the Lowville Festival Choir, which will appear in the opening concert. And budding visual artists will have an opportunity to participate in demonstrations in Saturday’s Sights and Sounds in the Escarpment, the Festival’s first collaboration with the Art Gallery of Burlington.
Kudo’s to both Bob Missen and Robert Stephen, president of the AGB, for getting in bed together and making this happen.
For the third annual festival, the trio that puts the program together has changed the festival dates to late May to avoid the torrid heat that they experienced during the past couple of summers, and also to set themselves apart from the huge number of festivals that take place in July.
And the country will be going gaga celebrating Canada’s Sesquicentennial.
In addition to the two venues on the Guelph Line that the Festival has been utilizing since the it’s inception, Lowville United Church and St. George’s Anglican Parish Hall, Missen is going to erect a large tent in Lowville Park where both Second City and Motus O will perform.
The tent idea hearkens back to the days when the Stratford Festival fist performed under canvas. Bronte creek is a much more natural backdrop than the Avon River in Stratford will ever be.
The 2017 festival will be launched on Friday May 26th with a concert at St. George’s Hall entitled To Canada with love. Famed Canadian guitarist Liona Boyd, one of the finest guitar players this country has produced will headline a celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday along with her new guitar partner Andrew Dolson. A highlight will be the appearance by the Lowville Festival Choir under the direction of Hamilton-born Wayne Strongman , former conductor of Hamilton’s Bach-Elgar Choir.
Saturday’s daytime activities, Sights and Sounds in the Escarpment, will take place at Lowville United Church, a Victorian jewel located at the south end of the hamlet of Lowville. Attendees will have an opportunity to take in demonstrations from some of Burlington’s finest artists and artisans, and also to make art themselves. During the afternoon they will also be serenaded in the church sanctuary by some of the region’s finest young performers under the direction of acclaimed music director Michael Mulrooney.
The Lowville Festival Tent will play host on Saturday night to Second City. The celebrated sketch/improv company, which gave birth to the legendary SCTV television series, will be presenting what Festival promoter Bob Missen calls “a devilishly satirical show” entitled Canada, the thinking man’s America.
The festival finale will be a presentation of MOTUS O’s production of Alice. A tour de force for the entire family featuring music, dance and theatre, inspired by both Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice will also be presented in the Lowville Festival Tent on Sunday afternoon May 28th.
Bob Missen and Loretta Bailey performing during the inaugural Lowville Festival.
The Lowville Festival is the vision of an artistic/management team of three. Two are Burlington performing artists: Lorretta Bailey, a Lowville resident, who has performed in musical theatre productions across Canada, including the original Toronto production of Les Miserables; and Robert Missen, proprietor of the Bobolink Agency, an artist management company that handles some of the bigger names in the Canadian arts field.
Missen was the 2016 inductee into the Burlington Performing Arts Centre Hall of Fame. Barbara Anderson-Huget, former Arts and Culture Manager for the Town of Gravenhurst and Executive Director of CARFAC Ontario, the association of visual artists, rounds out this trio.
Friday, May 26
7:30 pm
St. George’s Parish Hall
To Canada with Love: Celebrating Canada 150, featuring Liona Boyd and the Lowville Festival Choir
Saturday, May 27
1pm to 4pm
Lowville United Church
Free Event!
Sights and Sounds in the Escarpment in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Burlington
Sponsored by: Ontario Trillium Foundation
7:30pm
Lowville Park – Festival Tent
Second City Comedy Troupe
Canada: The Thinking Man’s America
Sunday, May 28
2pm
Lowville Park- Festival Tent
Motus O Dance Theatre’s Alice
Tickets will be available through Snapd after April 15th.
Many thanks, It is going to be a great festival Much as I am delighted to take credit for my efforts to bring together this exciting event, it is really a team effort. Both Barb Huget and Lorretta Bailey are equally deserving of praise, as is our newly formed Board. We are developing a great team.