October 28, 2008
Publication title: The Vancouver Sun, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Vancouver
Writer: Unknown
Sarah McLachlan To Sing At 2009 Olympiad Marking One Year To Games
VANCOUVER – Vancouver singing star Sarah McLachlan will open the 2009 Cultural Olympiad, marking the one-year countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
The kickoff concert on Feb. 12 will also include singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett, as well as performances by Alberta Ballet.
Tickets go on sale Nov. 1.
The 2009 Cultural Olympiad – the second of three planned in advance of the Games – will run from Feb. 1 to March 21. The news was announced at a press conference this morning, which included projected visuals by Neografik, aerial dance by Aeriosa, and music by Redshift. “The Cultural Olympiad will engage audiences with cultural experiences that intrigue, inspire and celebrate creativity in the 21st century,” said Burke Taylor, Vanoc’s vice-president of culture and celebrations. “Cultural Olympiad 2009 takes this promise to the next step, expanding the scope of our programs in our build-up to 2010.”
The Olympiad will feature more than 400 free and ticketed performances – in more than 70 venues – including a show by renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky at the Surrey Art Gallery.
Burtynsky was the subject of the award-winning documentary film Manufactured Landscapes, which was shown at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada later that year.
The Ontario native’s most famous photographs are sweeping views of industrially scarred landscapes: mine tailings, quarries and scrap piles. He also photographed the construction of the Three Gorges Dam project in China.
Toronto’s Broken Social Scene and Calgary Tegan and Sara will perform Feb. 6 at the Orpheum in a pre-Olympiad show.
The Olympiad will also include what Vanoc calls a “ground-breaking new suite of digital programs that extends the celebration of Canadian culture online.” Other featured artists this year will include, from the world of music: Australian cult band The Necks; Steve Reich’s mesmerizing Drumming by a who’s who of Vancouver percussionists; and the Vancouver premiere of the legendary Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra.
Theatre productions will include: new and old world puppetry with the latest creation from Canada’s genius of puppet theatre, Ronnie Burkett, and the classical form of Japan’s Awaji Puppet Theatre; and East of Berlin, which will look at history’s psychological legacies.
The visual arts programs will explore the underworld of China’s outlaw performance art scene and revel in the magic of Canada’s finest ice carvers. Closer to home, a tribute to Stan Douglas and the seminal roots of the Vancouver School will reveal an intriguing snapshot of Vancouver’s arts scene in the 1980s.Cinephiles, Vanoc says, will be able to enjoy historical and new films screened in novel settings, such as snow banks and shipping containers.Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company, Quebec’s Marie Brassard and Spain’s flamenco master Maria Juncal will also be part of the festivities.
“As we build to the extraordinary Games-time program of 2010 the constant for the Cultural Olympiad is our commitment to the vibrancy of our regional and national arts and cultural scene,” said Robert Kerr, Vanoc’s Cultural Olympiad program director. “Partnering with arts and cultural organizations is fundamental to creating a successful program that truly engages our community, celebrates its creativity and leads to legacies lasting long past 2010.” Local arts and cultural organizations say they benefitted from being part of the first Cultural Olympiad in several ways, including attracting more people because of the event’s substantial marketing clout and improving the quality of their performances. More than 170,000 people took in 300 free and ticketed performances in Metro Vancouver, Britannia Beach and Whistler.
