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About Virtuoso Variations

Brahms: Piano Concert No. 1
Elgar: Enigma Variations

Recent reviews refer to Angela Cheng's performances as "enthralling" and to Ms Cheng as a "passionately involved" virtuoso. Kingston Symphony audiences agree and are eager for her return. We are proud to present Angela Cheng as soloist in Brahms' great Piano Concerto No. 1. Elgar's exquisite Enigma Variations completes this program. Angela Cheng will be with us for two performances only. Be certain that you are there to hear her.

Glen Fast, Conductor
Angela Cheng, Piano

More information can be found at www.kingstonsymphony.on.ca

You can also visit The Kingston Symphony's website.

About I Am My Own Wife

I Am My Own Wife, 2004 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, begins its Kingston premiere Feb 4, 2009 in the intimate Baby Grand Theatre.

Inspired by interviews conducted by the playwright over several years, I Am My Own Wife tells the fascinating true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a German transvestite who managed to survive the rise and fall of the Third Reich as well as the post-war Communist regime with a combination of cleverness and deceit.

I Am My Own Wife is a striking solo performance; a portrayal of more than 40 characters, including the controversial figure herself, and the American writer who became intrigued with her.

"Astonishing" - New York Daily News
"Extraordinary" - Timeout New York
"Mesmerizing" - The New York Times
"With fluid virtuosity and ventriloquist flair, actor Brett Christopher gives voice to over three dozen characters" - Invisible Cities Network

Behind the Scenes
When the Nazis were looting Jewish homes during World War II, Charlotte followed with a junk cart, rescuing lamps, bronze busts and recordings of banned composers such as Mendelssohn and Offenbach. During the Cold War - when the Russians threatened to destroy a Weimar-era cabaret in Berlin's red light district - Charlotte rescued each table, each cane-back chair, each faded menu and each bottle of liquor, hiding them all in her basement. In room after room of her home-grown museum, she kept a fractured, tumultuous country intact.

You can also visit Theatre Kingston's website.

About Dido & Arenas

The Queen's Student Opera Company is proud to present, in their 11th season, Henry Purcell's Dido & Aeneas. The Baroque opera is based on a story from the fourth book of Virgirl's Aeneid. It tells the tale of the legendary Queen of Carthage, Dido, and the Trojan refugee, Aeneas. When Aeneas and his crew become shipwrecked in Carthage, he and the Queen fall in love. Witches plot Dido's destruction and the Sorceress conjures a storm, to break out when the royal couple are hunting, and the impersonation of Mercury by one of her coven. The storm duly breaks and the courtiers hasten back to town, while the false Mercury tells Aeneas he must leave Dido and sail for Italy. Aeneas and his sailors prepare to leave, to the delight of the witches. Dido, absolutely heartbroken and alone, awaits death.

Directed by Lee Sela, Musical Direction by Justine Thompson

You can also visit Queen's Student Opera Company's website.

About "We'll Be Bach!"

Guest - Ed Norman (Music Director of St. George's Cathedral) - Toccata and Fugue in D- (J.S. Bach) "A Tribute to Bach" - BWV - (BrassWerks Volume) ... and more music by J.S. Bach, Burt Bacharach, PDQ Bach..."We'll be Bach!"

About Ron James

Coming off the filming of an unprecedented fifth CBC-TV comedy special, Canada's busiest and best-selling comedian RON JAMES takes to the road with a new "gut-bustingly, knee-slappingly funny" 90-minute rant MENTAL AS ANYTHING.

Whether wrestling with society's accelerated rate of change, stumbling on nostril drooling bull moose during forest hikes, or experiencing the virtues of backyard composting and its promise of immortality, James brings a 'foot soldier's perspective from the trenches' in our collective march through Life's bright fury.

Incorporating a passionate love of language, with a physically charged word-perfect delivery, takes the audience on a roller coaster ride of seat-soaking laughs: "a comedic tour de force" — Globe & Mail; "5 STARS — Utterly Brilliant" — Ottawa Sun; "fits of helpless laughter" — Halifax Chronicle Herald; "funniest man in Canada" — Victoria Times-Colonist; "4 STARS — a wheezing, snorting, chortling, gasping night of hilarity" — Edmonton Sun; "convulsed with laughter" — Toronto Star; "fast, funny and smart" — Montreal Gazette; "thunderous standing ovation" — Saskatoon Star Phoenix.

From camping in leaky canvas-walled tent trailers in that idyllic summer of 1969... to a man at the crossroads of mid-life, James traces a trajectory across the landscape of contemporary culture, satirizing everything from button-down-rule-righteous life insurance agents to sanctimonious eco-freaks... just 'connecting the dots' while trying his best to clarify the chaos of this new century we're all walking through before he goes 'Mental As Anything' himself!

You can also visit Shantero Productions's website.

About Jill Barber

Spend Valentine's Day with your sweetheart listening to the sultry sounds of rising star, and one-time Kingstonian, Jill Barber. Drawing on influences from old-time jazz standards, folk balladry and traditional country, the critically acclaimed Barber will warm up hearts on a chilly winter's night.

"Jill Barber is part of a breed of foxy and self-assured singer-songwriters... a tribute to an era when a song could be cheeky and sexy without being explicit" &mdah; Maverick Magazine

About Miss Julie

Miss Julie By August Strindberg

A dark tale of obsession and betrayal.

Starring Hannah Smith, Justin Robertson & Claire Nottman

Directed by Charles Robertson

You can also visit Bottle Tree Productions's website.

About An Evening with Uncle Val

Canadian comic legend Andy Jones is the hilariously sarcastic Uncle Val in An Evening with Uncle Val. An indignant, 70 year old retired fisherman, displaced from his outport home, Uncle Val is now trapped in the 'big city' of St. John's. Homesick, Val struggles to figure out what life has left to offer him. Uncle Val's journey brings us an evening of Christmas reminiscences, encounters with the Beatles, and the danger of St. John's winters, or as Val likes to call it: The Seniors' Olympics.

About A Book of Spells

A Book of Spells interweaves poetry, literary stories of magic realism and stories of personal experience. The poetry is taken from Gardens of Eden by Michelene Wandor; the stories of magic realism from a collection of short stories by author Sara Maitland (a collection which also provides the title for T.W.P. show). The tone is fierce, the content edgy and disturbing, lush, soothing, and finally, filled with delight.

The show is a story of many, many stories. Listeners find themselves confronted with the witch in Hansel and Gretel - still living in the forest; still, through all the ages (surprisingly) tending to young women's needs. Then there's the mother who gains the power (quite literally) to soar through the nighttime; the two old women, tending their garden - and their broomsticks - in their cottage at the end of the road.

Above all, there are the two tellers, struggling to build a life together, seeing themselves reflected in what they are reading, desperate to put their demons to rest and find peace.

Photo credit: Alan Dean Photography

About Elizabeth Shepard Trio

Toronto singer/pianist Elizabeth Shepard and her trio. Elizabeth Shepard is one the new young generation of singers to emerge from the Toronto scene in recent years. She blends a great old-time sensibility with a contemporary edge. Very melodic and hard grooving.

You can also visit Kingston Jazz Society's website.

About Jamie Adkins

As a natural clown, Jamie's failures often end up being his greatest successes. In this new show, his clowning and acrobatic feats on the ground and on a slack wire are brought to life in a story of a man who has something to say, but can't quite get it out.

Beginning with an empty stage and a single microphone, a shy Jamie Adkins musters the courage to face what he fears most, speaking in public. The audience follows Jamie on an adventure about having the courage to try new ideas, pushing them to their limits, not giving up when all goes wrong and most of all surprising yourself.

"...between innocence and elegance, Mr. Adkins has actually fulfilled the promise of ringleaders everywhere. It's a show for all ages." — New York Sun

About Jeremy Hotz

Misery loves company and Jeremy Hotz is ready to tell you why! After an extremely successful tour of Western Canada last year, Just For Laughs is thrilled to announce the return of What a Miserable Tour This Is... starring one of Canada's favourite sons, Jeremy Hotz.

One of Canada's national treasures, Jeremy has been a stand-out performer at seven Just For Laughs Festivals and headlined the Just For Laughs Canadian Tour in 2005. Jeremy was also voted the 7th top performance on the CBC Just For Laughs 25th Anniversary Special, and continues to grab audiences with his hilarious observational comedy. Although Jeremy is your typical single guy — challenged in the grocery store aisles and desperately out of touch with his fashion choices — he still finds humor in all of it and allows the audience to laugh at his everyday blunders and adventures. It wasn't easy but we convinced the curmudgeon to allow cameras in the theatre during his live show this past summer. As a result keep your eyes peeled for an all-new special filmed live at the 2008 Festival called What a Miserable Show This Is.

You can also visit Just for Laughs's website.

About Side Man

This lovely and poignant memory play is set in 1953 and travelling to 1985 unfolds through the eyes of Clifford, the only son of Gene, a jazz trumpet player, and Terry, an alcoholic mother. It alternates between their New York City apartment and a music club. Gene's music career on a big-band circuit crumbles with the advent of Elvis Presley and rock-and-roll. For Gene, music is not just a job, it is his life. When the adult Clifford visits Gene in a run down jazz club after years of separation, he asks the old man to play his mother's favourite song, the old standard "Why Was I Born?" Clifford then asks, "Dad, why was I born?" It becomes Clifford's last, heart-breaking plea for his father's love.

A drama by Warren Leight. Festival Entry.

Warning: Some patrons may find the language offensive.

More information can be found at www.dominotheatre.com.

You can also visit Domino Theatre's website.

About Bob Marley — Legend

Reggae's greatest star, Bob Marley's album Legend features some of his most beloved and popular tracks. Live performances of "Is This Love", "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry" and other Marley classics will make for a electric evening.

About Pascal Rogé

Pascal Rog&eeacute; exemplifies the finest in French pianism.

His playing of Poulenc, Satie, Fauré, Saint-Saëns or Ravel in particular is characterised by its elegance, beauty and delicate phrasing - his name is synonymous with the best playing of French repertory in the world today. Born in Paris, Pascal Rogé is an exclusive DECCA recording artist who has won many prestigious awards including two GRAMOPHONE AWARDS, a Grand Prix du Disque and an Edison award for his interpretations of the Ravel and Saint-Saëns concertos. Other recordings feature a Debussy cycle, a Bartok cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra. For the Poulenc Edition 1999 Mr. Rogé recorded both piano concertos, the "Aubade", the Concerto Champêtre for harpsichord and orchestra, all under Maestro Dutoit.

Pascal Rogé has performed in almost every major concert hall in the world. Some of the orchestras he has appeared with include the Philadelphia Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, l'Orchestre de Paris, l'Orchestre National de Radio France, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Geneva, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and all the major London orchestras.

You can also visit Queen's Performing Arts Office's website.