Host city of the 1954 British Commonwealth Games, Vancouver will welcome the Queen’s Baton Relay with a full day of events on August 1, 2017 as it makes its way to Australia for the next Games in 2018.
Queen’s Baton Relay and Block Party
The Queen’s Baton Relay is a Commonwealth Games tradition that connects all nations and territories of the Commonwealth prior to the Games being held. The 2018 Queen’s Baton, which is on an epic 388-day journey, carries a message from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II which calls the Commonwealth’s athletes to come together in peaceful and friendly competition to the Games in Gold Coast Australia April 4-15, 2018.
The BC Sports Hall of Fame has produced a ‘virtual relay’ where the Queen’s Baton will travel to iconic Vancouver landmarks and be greeted by Commonwealth Games athletes and alumni and BC Sports Hall of Fame Honoured Members.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
8:00am at Capilano Suspension Bridge
With Elaine Tanner, 1966 Commonwealth Games Alumni, Commonwealth & Olympic medalist (winner of a remarkable 7 medals at the 1966 Commonwealth Games: 4 gold and 3 silver)
8:30am at Grouse Mountain
With Philip Wright, Team Canada Field Hockey 2006, 2010 Commonwealth Games Alumni.
10:00am at Empire Fields
Welcome of Baton to Vancouver with Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport, Government of Canada and Charmaine Crooks, 1982/1986/1994 Commonwealth Games Alumni, Commonwealth & Olympic medalist.
11:15 am at the Harry Jerome sculpture at Stanley Park
With Doug and Diane Clement, 1954/1958 Commonwealth Games Alumni, Commonwealth medalists
12:00pm – 4:00pm at the BC Sports Hall of Fame
The FREE Queen’s Baton Block Party at Terry Fox Plaza (BC Place) will have multiple vendors and sport activations including BC Ten Pin Federation, BC Athletics, BC Rugby plus more. Get your picture taken with the baton and more!
4:00pm at the BC Sports Hall of Fame (Gate A – BC Place)
Hero in You Athlete Presentation with Brent Hayden, 2006/2010 Commonwealth Games Alumni, Commonwealth and Olympic medalist.
The Queen’s Baton Relay was launched at Buckingham Palace on March 13th 2017, when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, placed her message to the Commonwealth into the baton. Over its 388-day journey through 70 Commonwealth nations and territories, the baton will have covered close to 230,000 kilometres, averaging one to four days in each nation or territory. The baton is travelling to Africa, the Caribbean, North America and then Europe and Oceania. It will finish its journey at the Opening Ceremony of the XXI Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia on April 4, 2018.
For more information about the BC Sports Hall of Fame, including their All Access tours of BC Place this summer, follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
This weekend is all about markets, street food, and Canada 150+ which includes The Drum is Calling Festival, Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week and other free events. Check out these listings and more below:
Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend
Events that run for longer than three days in a row are highlighted in green.
Friday, July 28, 2017
Music at the Cannery
The Fou Fou Ha! Show
CP Canada 150 Train in Port Moody
Music by Humans & Intelligent Machines
Adult-Only Nights at Playland
Illumination Summer Night Market, Richmond
Richmond Night Market
Shipyards Night Market North Vancouver
Blessed Coast Music Fest, Squamish
Shark Week at the Vancouver Aquarium
A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Town Centre Park
Squamish Wind Festival
CBC Musical Nooner Concert Series
Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week
The Drum is Calling Festival
Excavation Theatre Presents: Girls! Girls! Girls! Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
Showcasing the power and beauty of authentic Indigenous art and design, Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week (“VIFW”) starts today and is a part of Canada 150+ and The Drum is Calling Festival.
Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week
Where: Larwill Park & Queen Elizabeth Theatre Atrium
When: July 26-29, 2017
Tickets: Free! But registration is required to book a ticket online here »
Indigenous Fashion Week aims to connect all Canadians with contemporary Indigenous regalia art, highlighting the innovation of world-class Indigenous artists and designers in traditional Coast Salish Territory.
From the organizers:
This Fashion Week expresses political, environmental and economic truths of land, territory, and rightful place. These designers showcase modern Indigenous regalia that’s innovative, vibrant, visible, resilient, beautiful, and proud. Brands and styles try to copy Indigenous design around the world. VIFW upholds authentic Indigenous artistry and reclaims the strong stories that draw global eyes and longing. We raise up Indigenous artistry, materials, and legacy with power, visibility, and deepest beauty.
Featured Events
Wednesday, July 26, 2017 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Opening Ceremonies at Larwill Park (688 Cambie St)
- Emcee: Rueben George
- Designers: Tyler Jacobs, Michelle George, Loraine Guss, Pam Baker
- Performer: Ronnie Harris
Thursday, July 27, 2017 from 5:00pm to 10:00pm
Street Style at Queen Elizabeth Theatre
- Emcee: JB First Lady
- Designers: Oka/Shop Wrong, Jill Stelah, Teresa Walker, Alano + Manitobah, Autumn Jules, Shannon Kilroy, Sections 35
- Performers: Nadine and Madeline
- Unofficial Afterparty Delhi2Dublin at Chinese Cultural Centre
Friday, July 28, 2017 from 5:00pm to 10:00pm
Red Dress at Queen Elizabeth Theatre
- Emcee: Lorelei Williams & Mandy Nahanee
- Designers: Derek Packer, Evan Ducharme + Dominique Hanke, Linda Kay, Mia Hunt, Curtis Oland, Dorothy Grant
- Performer: Ronnie Harris
Saturday, July 29, 2017 from 5:00pm to 10:00pm
Closing Ceremonies at Queen Elizabeth Theatre
- Emcee: Mandy Nahanee
- Designers: Denise Brillion, Yolanda, Korina Emmerich, Bill Reid, Dahlia Drive and Reg Davidson, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Sho Sho Esquiro
- Performers: Linnea Dick
- Unofficial Afterparty with Kinnie Starr + DJ Shub at Larwill Park
Follow VIFW on Facebook and Instagram for more information, along with Canada 150+ on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Hop across Howe Sound on a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale and in under an hour you can be savouring the very best of BC’s Sunshine Coast. If you’re not sure where to start – since there are so many local producers, growers, crafters and artisans – you can get a taste for the region at the Gibsons Public Market.
Recently re-opened after a massive renovation, this heritage building by the shore (and just 5km from the ferry terminal) is much more than a public market, it’s a community gathering space. It’s where locals and visitors convene for workshops, meetings, a community kitchen, a bite at the bistro, yoga classes, arts and entertainment. Not to mention shopping!
On a recent trip to the coast, my sister and I were greeted by Wendy, with the market’s administration team. “So much of this building is built on volunteers,” she told us as we walked over to Emelle’s Catering Market Bistro for brunch. Fresh, local, delicious breakfast options were on the menu, including this veggie hash topped with a perfectly poached egg:
After brunch, it was time to head downstairs, following my nose to the sweet aromas of fresh baked goods and roasted coffee. On the lower level you’ll find the main marketplace with permanent vendors:
Art Meets Chocolate, Bowen Island Roasting Company, Emelle’s Catering Market Bistro, Fisherman’s Market, Fromagerie de Baie, G.G. Greens, Rainflorest, and The Gibsons Butcher.
At Art Meets Chocolate‘s market counter you can pick up ice cream sandwiches, cheesecake, chocolate-dipped ice cream bars, and their famous neighbourhood chocolate bars featuring artwork from artists in BC communities. It’s part treat, part collector card, an 100% local.
Award-winning Bowen Island Roasting Company has roasted coffee, now available off-island right in Gibsons, as well as baked goods and unique kitchen supplies in their cafe store.
Across from coffee and chocolate, you’ll find the Gibsons Butcher‘s express counter. With a shop in Upper Gibsons, this post serves as a Lower Gibsons outlet for their beautiful cuts, burgers, sausages, and jerky.
Our next stop was Fisherman’s Market for some wonderfully fresh and seasoned poké samples. They specialize in sustainable, wild, and organic seafood like BC salmon, spot prawns, and much more. Their crew is experienced, knowledgeable, and they care about sustainable fishing practices. Ask them anything at the counter!
Local brie? Curds? Yes please! The coast’s only cheese shop, Fromagerie de Baie is located right in Gibsons Public Market. They carry a selection of top quality cheeses from BC, Canada, and Europe. We had another sample here, and also picked up some antipasto and honey. We were eating our way through the market, inspired by the spectacular array of ingredients that any home cook would love to work with.
From blue cheese to bouquets, the beautifully fragrant Rainflorest is where you’ll find colourful stems and arrangements, along with an assortment of garden plants, orchids, cards, and candles. Even the flowers on the tables upstairs, that we admired earlier, were from Rainflorest.
Finally, no market would be complete without a grocer like G.G. Greens. It has everything you need to compliment the variety of goods you’ll pick up from other vendors. Edible flowers, fruit, organic vegetables, popcorn, crackers, and more.
We were so full from brunch, and plenty of samples, after our visit to the market. Whether you’re picking up a snack or planning an entire family feast, it really is a one-stop shop. Pop in to pick up your groceries, your morning coffee, or the catch of the day. Stay a while on the upstairs balcony and peer out at the harbour while live music plays.
Pro Tip: Purchase a Membership
An annual membership to the Gibsons Public Market is just $35 (single) $50 (family) and it comes with many perks. Get discounts at market shops as well as retailers and producers up and down the Sunshine Coast.
Pick your membership up at the welcome desk just inside the public market’s main doors. After our visit I used mine twice later that day! Once at Persephone Brewing and again at The Nova Kitchen. Read through the full list of partners here »
The market is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00am to 6:00pm (open holiday Mondays in the summer). Coffee window opens at 8:30am and the bistro opens for brunch at 9:00am. On now until October 6, 2017, stop by the expanded Friday Farmers and Artisans Market from 11:00am to 4:00pm where the market spills out into the parking lot and even more local vendors like Persephone Brewery, Lee’s Place, Green Green Kitchen, Roundtable Farms, and Artisans Way Organics will be on site. On Saturdays, there’s always live music from 2:30pm to 4:30pm.
Take a day trip from Vancouver, or be sure to make this your home base during your Sunshine Coast visit.
Gibsons Public Market
473 Gower Point Road (P.O. Box 191)
Gibsons, BC V0N 1V0
For more information about the Sunshine Coast, stay tuned! I have more information to share about my recent visit that will give you insights on the best places to sip, savour, stay, and play. In the meantime, follow Sunshine Coast Tourism on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Early Music Vancouver (“EMV”) proudly presents the return of the Vancouver Bach Festival, in the heart of downtown, and at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. Following the success of last summer’s inaugural festival, EMV is offering 14 remarkable concerts, ranging from intimate chamber music programmes to a full Passion Oratorio, featuring over 60 performers including guest artists from all over the world.
Vancouver Bach Festival
- When: August 1 – 11, 2017
- Where: Christ Church Cathedral (690 Burrard) & the Chan Centre (6265 Crescent Rd at UBC)
- Tickets: $10 – $68 available online or by phone (604) 822-2697. Enjoy any four concerts of the Vancouver Bach Festival for the price of three. Purchases of more than four concert packages will also receive a 25% discount.
J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750) is regarded as one of the greatest composers in Western musical history. His legacy includes some of the most beautiful and well-crafted music ever written. Almost three centuries after Bach’s passing, his vast catalogue of works are still revered, studied, and reinterpreted by music lovers across the globe.
Inspired by the 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation, this year’s festival is a celebration of music’s supreme ability to transform and persuade. The festival programming fittingly honours the genius of Bach and other composers who were so profoundly shaped by Luther’s influence.
Gli Angeli Genève
Vancouver Bach Festival 2017 Programme
Overtures to Bach
August 1 at 6:00pm and 9:00pm
Renowned as a musical pioneer, Canadian cellist Matt Haimovitz performs four of Bach’s beloved Cello Suites preceded by new commissions written by composers including Philip Glass and David Sanford that anticipate, reflect, and transform the originals. Haimovitz’s new ‘overtures’ build a bridge from the master’s time to our own, and demonstrate that Bach’s influence is even more important and pervasive today than it was in the 18th Century. Between each performance there will be a dinner break for those who would like to attend both hour-long events.
Schumann Dichterliebe and Brahms Four Serious Songs
August 2 at 1:00pm
Internationally acclaimed Canadian baritone Tyler Duncan and his partner on and off stage, internationally renowned collaborative pianist Erika Switzer, perform Schumann’s beloved song cycle with an original 19th century fortepiano.
Songs of Religious Upheaval: Byrd, Tallis, Tye – Music from Reformation England
August 2 at 7:30pm (pre-concert talk 6:45pm)
Audiences who love Renaissance polyphonic choral music will delight in Cinquecento, a premiere vocal quintet with members from five European countries. For this concert, the ensemble will share the emotionally charged and harmonically rich Latin Church music of William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, and Christoper Tye. These exquisite polyphonies were composed during the height of the English Reformation, representing a time of deep conflict and religious turmoil.
Lutheran Vespers: Songs for Troubled Times
August 3 at 1:00pm (an EMV Emerging Artists Event, suggested donation $20)
Eleven Vancouver based performers offer a complete Lutheran vespers. Written to provide comfort and consolation to churchgoers following Europe’s devastating Thirty Years’ War and its aftermath, this music had a huge influence on the young J.S. Bach.
Bach’s Italian Concerto
August 3 at 7:30pm (pre-concert talk 6:45pm)
Hear two of Bach’s most iconic works for keyboard – the French Overture and the Italian Concerto – performed by internationally acclaimed harpsichordist Alexander Weimann. Stephan MacLeod, esteemed Swiss baritone and founding musical director of European ensemble Gli Angeli Genève, joins Weimann for two virtuosic cantatas Dalla Guerra Amorosa by Handel, and Amore Traditore by Bach.
Conversions: Mendelssohn, Moscheles and Bach
August 4 at 1:00pm
Fortepianist Byron Schenkman & cellist Michael Unterman perform works by Mendelssohn and Moscheles, two Jewish artists who converted to Christianity to conform to social norms.
Handel in Italy: Virtuosic Cantatas
August 4 at 7:30pm (pre-concert talk 6:45pm)
For this program, two of Europe’s most accomplished young Baroque vocalists, Terry Wey and Jenny Högström, perform virtuosic cantatas and fiery love duets by Handel from his early Italian period, along with a duet by Agostino Steffani, one of Handel’s mentors.
Playing with B-a-c-H: Sonatas for Violin by Telemann, Pisendel and J.S. Bach
August 8 at 1:00pm
One of North America’s most respected baroque violinists, Seattle’s Tekla Cunningham performs a solo Bach partita, a Pisendel solo sonata, and two solo Telemann fantasias.
Before Bach: “The Fountains of Israel” by Johann Schein (1623)
August 8 at 7:30pm (pre-concert talk 6:45pm)
Leading European vocal ensemble, Gli Angeli Genève, will take audiences on a journey back in time a century before Bach when music in Northern Germany came under the influence of a new and powerful musical language known as the Italian madrigal – Johann Schein was one of three German composers who successfully adapted and converted this new form to fit German language. The ensemble will perform Schein’s traditional masterpiece Israelis Brünnlein or The Fountains of Israel, an exquisite collection of madrigals written on biblical texts from the Lutheran Bible.
Bach for Two Flutes
August 9 at 1:00pm
Revered West Coast Baroque flutists Janet See and Soile Stratkauskas beguile with the sweet, matched voices of Baroque flutes. Christopher Bagan joins on harpsichord.
Heavenly Love: Sacred Arias for Counter-Tenor
August 9, at 7:30pm (pre-concert talk 6:45pm)
Alex Potter, hailed by the International Record Review as a “rising star of the counter-tenor world,” treats audiences to pieces set to religious text that were originally not intended for church, but for entertainment or private devotion in family homes. Using the diverse colours of counter-tenor, lute, organ and viola da gamba, this programme presents music by Buxtehude, Schütz, Purcell and Strozzi, and explores their heartfelt and passionate responses to these beautiful texts.
Bach Transcriptions – Victoria Baroque Players
August 10 at 1:00pm
Bach’s trio sonatas for organ are given new life in transcriptions for chamber ensemble.
Music of Missions and Mystery: Latin American Baroque
August 10, at 7:30pm (pre-concert talk 6:45pm)
In this unique programme, Pacific MusicWorks, led by GRAMMY award-winner Stephen Stubbs, explores works written as part of the Catholic Church’s Counter-Reformation. Audiences will hear a vibrant mix of Italian, Spanish, African, and indigenous elements that inspired the new musical style heard in cathedrals and missions of colonial Latin America that continue to speak to us today.
J.S. Bach St. John Passion at the Chan Centre
August 11, at 7:30pm (pre-concert talk 6:45pm)
Join the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, the Vancouver Cantata Singers, and a cast of seven international Bach specialists for a dramatic presentation of one of the greatest works in the classical repertoire. Considered the closest thing that Bach came to writing an opera, St. John Passion is written mostly from Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible. Led by Alexander Weimann, the part of the narrator will be taken on by Thomas Hobbs, one of the leading ‘Bach Evangelists’ of our time.
To complement the artist lineup, EMV will offer an array of thought-provoking film screenings and expert talks, which audiences can enjoy with wine and refreshments in a relaxed atmosphere.
Alexander Weimann with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. Image by Jan Gates
Win a Ticket Package
I have a triple pack of tickets to give away to the following performances: Handel in Italy: Virtuosic Cantatas (August 4), Before Bach: “The Fountains of Israel” by Johann Schein (1623) (August 8), and J.S. Bach St. John Passion (August 11). Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
- Click below to post an entry on Twitter
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win an @earlymusicvan #VanBachFest ticket package http://ow.ly/ePik30dTRNi” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, August 1, 2017. Follow Early Music Vancouver on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more information.
Update The winner is Sheila!
