China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra presents Enchanting China: An Orchestral Extravaganza, for just two performances in Vancouver at the end of this month. This traditional Chinese orchestra arrives with more than 70 musicians, and will be joined by singers and dancers in vibrant and exquisite costumery, making this sweeping orchestral extravaganza a true feast for the senses.
The program will showcase an eclectic array of vocal songs, featuring soloists from China, as well as local voices and great instrumental works from across the history of Chinese music. Audiences will also be treated to traditional Chinese dance and a taste of Kunqu Opera – one of the country’s oldest extant forms – with excerpts from The Peony Pavilion.
Enchanting China: An Orchestral Extravaganza
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre (600 Block Hamilton St, Vancouver) When: November 29th & 30th, 2016 at 8:00pm Tickets: Starting at $28 (plus fees, taxes). Available online now or by calling 1-855-985-2787.
More than 70 musicians including masters of the Sheng (free-reed bamboo pipe), Pipa (four-stringed lute), Erhu (spike fiddle), and many more fascinating authentic instruments will be featured.
Direct from Beijing, the orchestra will be joined by singer Gong Linna, a major artist in Asia and Europe who has been described as ‘China’s Bjork’. Combining traditional and modern vocal techniques, Gong Linna has developed a wholly unique signature style. The concert will mark her first-ever performance in Canada.
In a wonderful cultural exchange, the Vancouver Chamber Choir will also be invited on stage, offering a splendid selection of both Western and Chinese repertoire.
The holiday season is here! Check out these Free Christmas Activities in Metro Vancouver throughout November and December, and the list of things to do in Vancouver this weekend is below:
Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend
Events that run for longer than three days in a row are highlighted in green.
Tuesday, November 29th is recognized as “Giving Tuesday“, opening the season of giving around the world following Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday unites charities, companies and individuals in the spirit of giving and over the next few days I’ll be profiling a few local organizations that you can support on this day – and throughout the year.
Giving Tuesday
In 2006, 10% of Stanley Park’s 1000 acres were severely damaged by the a windstorm. But all of its forests, beaches and delicate wetlands are impacted by 9 million visitors annually.
Stanley Park Ecology Society
On Giving Tuesday, the Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”) invites you to join them in supporting Vancouver’s most beloved park.
On December 15, 2006, 120 km/h winds pummeled Stanley Park. In the aftermath, 10,000 trees – some more than 500 years old – littered the forest floor. Ten years later, many of the 16,000 saplings planted are thriving in the blowdown sites, bird diversity has increased in the fresh shrubbery, and volunteers are aggressively attacking invasive plants. With the dedication of community volunteers, ecologists and government, Stanley Park is a decade strong in its renewal. The work continues, and they need your help.
How to Support SPES
In a decade since the storm, donations and grants to SPES have helped us support Stanley Park through:
5000 m3 of invasive plant biomass removed
98,692 volunteer hours dedicated to restoring habitat and monitoring wildlife
30,357 school children engaged with outdoor environmental education programs
Imagine what we can do in the next 10 years! Donate on Giving Tuesday for a healthy Stanley Park:
$30 supports SPES’ wildlife monitoring programs that engage citizen scientists in collecting baseline data to track the impacts of habitat restoration efforts in Stanley Park.
$75 subsidizes an elementary school class of 25 inner-city children to learn about the stewardship of nature in nature in Stanley Park.
$160 supports the removal and management of invasive plants in blowdown areas and strategic sites throughout Stanley Park.
$500 subsidizes the school program fee for one inner city class to participate in Nature Ninjas, an empowering, unforgettable overnight camping fieldtrip in Stanley Park
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — This post is sponsored by Kal TirePlease review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
Have you seen the meme that’s going around showing several cars spun out in a ditch off a snowy highway with the caption “annual meeting of the summer tires club”? It’s rather funny, until you check the tires on your own car or, heaven forbid, you end up in a skid on a patch of black ice or snow in our mountain passes. However, it does bring awareness to tire choice given seasonal conditions.
I took to a closed course in Pitt Meadows with Kal Tire recently to put some 3-season and winter tires to the test, trying both new and worn versions of each tire set in the pouring rain — and on some imported snow — to see how different types of tires perform in winter driving conditions.
Testing Tires in Winter Conditions with Kal Tire
I love driving, so much, and I think part of it comes from having experience on closed courses, where I can really put a vehicle and its tires to a test. This was my fifth closed course experience and it really put my skills to the test, especially since I knew I would be driving worn tires over giant puddles and patches of snow.
“When we test what we want to do is take the driver and the suspension input of the vehicle out of the equation, so that we’re just testing the tread of the tires.”
My co-pilot was an independent tire tester and pro-driver, Joanne Younker, who is based in Whistler.
Joanne has tested hundreds of tires, and they’re all blind tests so she never knows what’s being put on the car when she’s doing her diagnostics and providing professional input. For our run, she made sure that I was going the same speed and applying the same quickness and power to the ABS (anti-lock braking system) during each run so I truly relied on the tires for feedback instead of my own movements.
To ensure accurate results, scientific data was collected by professional drivers (Joanne included) over multiple runs using industry-leading technology that measured precise driving lines, speed, G-force measurements, GPS information and even minute track conditions such as road and wind temperature.
Kal Tire evaluated the performance of various tires at five stages of tread wear—from brand new to zero tread depth. One of the key findings shows even a worn premium winter tire can outperform a new 3-season tire in certain conditions. The tests were done in several conditions, which were replicated during my run: cold dry, cold wet, ice, slush, and snow.
Results
A worn five-star premium tire can outperform a new 3-season tire in certain conditions.
Ice braking: On an icy road at 30 km/h, the 75% worn five-star premium winter tire stopped in 29.7m; 2.6m sooner than the new 3-season, which stopped at 32.3m.
Snow cornering: The 75% worn premium winter tire held a corner 4.3% better than the new 3-season tire.
No two winter tires are created equal. The five-star premium winter tire outperformed the three-star economy winter tire in all tests over all stages of wear.
Ice braking: The 75% worn premium winter tire stopped in 29.7m; the 75% worn economy winter tire stopped in 32.5m.
Snow cornering: The 75% worn premium winter tire cornered 26% better than the 75% worn economy winter tire.
Braking performance declines significantly between 50% and 75% wear.
Ice braking: When the premium winter tire went from 50% to 75% worn, it took an extra 3.1m to brake on ice. The economy winter tire took an extra 4.8m.
Snow braking: When the premium tire went from 50% to 75% worn, it took an extra 4.4 m to brake on snow. The economy winter tire took an extra 4.3 m to stop.
Most tire purchases are made out of necessity, after something goes wrong, but learning more about the performance of tires in various types of conditions might help us all make more proactive decisions about what we put on our vehicles. You can find out more by visiting your local Kal Tire where you can browse brands and get the best advice for your all-season driving.
This evening a painting by a Group of Seven artist became most expensive Canadian artwork ever sold at auction. Lawren Harris‘ 1926 piece Mountain Forms, depicting Alberta’s Mount Ishbel in the Sawback Range of the Rocky Mountains in Banff National Park, sold at the hammer for $9.5 million.
Harris is one of seven Canadian artists that are celebrated and revered for their works – but just what and who are the Group of Seven?
Who Are the Group of Seven Painters?
The Group of Seven, also known as the Algonquin School, was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933. Original members were:
Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945)
Lawren Harris (1885–1970)
A.Y. (Alexander Young) Jackson (1882–1974)
Frank Johnston (1888–1949)
Arthur Lismer (1885–1969)
J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932)
Frederick Varley (1881–1969) » there’s a great 3-part piece about Varley’s North Vancouver roots here.
Later, A. J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to join in 1926; Edwin Holgate (1892–1977) became a member in 1930; and LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) joined in 1932. Two artists commonly associated with the group are Tom Thomson (1877–1917) and Emily Carr (1871–1945). So, it’s really a group of about a dozen.
Five were originally employees of the design firm Grip Ltd. in Toronto. In 1913, they were joined by A.Y. Jackson and Lawren Harris. They often met at the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto to discuss their opinions and share their art. The group is best known for its paintings inspired by the Canadian landscape, and for initiating the first major Canadian national art movement.
The Vancouver Art Gallery has featured Group of Seven works in the past, including an exhibition “Emily Carr and the Group of Seven” back in 2008.
Carr first met members of the Group of Seven in 1927 when she exhibited her work in the exhibition West Coast Art: Native and Modern. On her way to Ottawa for the exhibition, she met Frederick Varley, Arthur Lismer, A.Y. Jackson, J.E.H. MacDonald and, most importantly, Lawren S. Harris. Famously, Lawren Harris told Carr, who had felt unappreciated as an artist, “you are one of us.” This acceptance re-energized her career.
You can find Lawren Harris‘ Tamarack Swamp, Algoma (1920) in the Vancouver Art Gallery‘s permanent collection. After the dissolution of the Group of Seven in 1933, Harris moved toward abstraction and in 1940 he relocated to Vancouver, where he remained until his death in 1970. During these later years he became a major figure in the community and an important leader in the life of the Vancouver Art Gallery, in particular encouraging the development of its Emily Carr Trust collection.
Learn more about Canadian art and its history by visiting the Vancouver Art Gallery this season.
