The Spirit of the One Song arts reception and grand performance was an amazing showcase of local talent culminating in a feeling of community that spread throughout the theatre space.
The event took place at the Coast Inn Saturday night with a grand finale bringing together the Prince George Symphony Orchestra performing Simon Cole's The One Song, as Marcel Gagnon narrated, mezzo-soprano Marion Newman sang, Les Dala conducted and Douglas Lamb provided photos and visuals in a slide show.
The festival was hosted by the Prince George Symphony Orchestra throughout February where cities across the province rekindled the community spirit the 2010 Olympic Games brought a year ago.
The orchestra collaborated with public and private organizations to explore our cultural diversity and bring it to light, and the grand performance brought it all together with performing arts and visual arts in one stellar night.
The Prince George Native Friendship Centre children of the Nations Drum Group took to the stage with Linda Smerychynski baring the Olympic torch. Some participants were so tiny they needed to be carried onto the stage and my heart melted.
When the children sang and beat their drums in time to the melody of Bingo Was His Name-O, the thoroughly-charmed audience was laughing with joy.
A truly heart-tugging moment came when one of the wee ones hid under the piano when the fun was over and sobbed broken-heartedly when guided out of the limelight.
As the audience was entertained, Cat Sivertsen, a local artist and teacher, was on the sidelines painting in response to what she saw, heard and felt.
It's a spell-binding process to watch and the entire audience was privy to it with a camera over Sivertsen's shoulder aimed at the blank canvass and projected onto a big screen. By the time she fine-tuned some of the detail work with her fingers and used a rag to get the right texture to her paintings, I was hooked. I wanted to paint. It was like the best kept secret - the wonder of art making - revealed to us all. It made the exploration of painting a friendly, happy, no-longer-intimidating thing for me, and I was amazed at Sivertsen's utter talent and complete skill.
Out of Alba, a Celtic band that's been entertaining Prince George for 20 years, took to the stage to accompany the PGSO and after a hiccup or two toes were tapping throughout their performance of Pachelbel's Canon.
A.J. Mittendorf presented The Elephant Poem while the PGSO performed Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals. It was a lovely recitation of poetry complete with actions put to words and an alto voice used when the elephant spoke.
Shubert's Serenade was a collaboration between Judy Russell's Dance Centre, mezzo-soprano Marion Newman and Les Dala the conductor of the symphony on piano.
It was a lovely performance with young ballerinas dancing as Newman trilled lightly through the song.
Serious Moonlight Productions, with Bas Rynsewyn directing, found Vivian Johnson, Elizabeth Houg and Chris Brown on stage for Hold For Three, a comedic sketch when a wager about a teen holding his breath until the moon rose takes a desperate turn. As the seconds wore on and the young man became more distraught, the inspiration provided by his friend to keep the faith and hold his breath began to wane in the most humourous way, much to the delight of the audience.
Quickly after the skit, Newman took to the stage with the PGSO to perform Bizet Carmen-Habanera, and Newman, known for her dramatic tone, entertained the audience with this lively performance.
