Sivarulrasa Gallery launches Culture22
Intimate soirées of music, lectures, and poetry in our exquisite art gallery setting
When/Where: See schedule below for selected evenings, 730pm to 9pm, at Sivarulrasa Gallery, 34 Mill St, Almonte ON.
Tickets: Only 22 seats are available for each performance, and a complimentary coffee, tea & cake reception with the artist(s) will follow. With the limited seating, we aim to create an intimate venue to celebrate the arts. To purchase tickets, visit Tickets Please. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Dr. Daniel Ramjattan, Saturday August 24, 2024, 730pm-9pm
Fire and Water: Music for Solo Guitar
Sivarulrasa Gallery is delighted to welcome back classical guitarist Dr. Daniel Ramjattan to our Culture22 series of concerts! Since his previous performance at the Gallery seven years ago, Dr. Ramjattan has completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Toronto, and has premiered dozens of chamber and solo works for guitar.
His program Fire and Water: Music for Solo Guitar will include both contemporary and classical works for guitar, including works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Risa “Lisa” Oribe, Sergio Assad, Isaac Albeniz, Johann Kaspar Mertz, Naoko Tsujita, and Roland Dyens.
Tickets: This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open: 7:15pm. A dessert reception with the artist will follow the performance.
About the Artist: Dr. Daniel Ramjattan has performed in Canada, the United States, Austria, Italy, Japan, and Trinidad and Tobago, and has received an array of top prizes in provincial and national solo guitar competitions.
His debut studio album, Inspirations: New Works for Solo Guitar, features his interpretation of six brilliant works by Canadian composers, including three world premiere recordings, available for streaming on all major platforms. CBC Radio’s Paolo Pietropaolo featured the album as the Record of the Week in March 2022, and WholeNote Magazine described his playing as “beautifully clean.” He has lectured at McGill University, the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, Memorial University, the University of Waterloo, and Mount Royal University. In 2020, he joined Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Music as a classical guitar instructor.
Lonesome George, Saturday June 29, 2024, 730pm-9pm
Irish traditional music from Belfast
On Saturday, June 29, 2024, Sivarulrasa Gallery is pleased to present Lonesome George, a song-writing duo from Belfast! Joe Campbell-McArdle and Myles McCormack are two friends who started learning Irish traditional music together in their teens and have been playing together ever since. Expect traditional Irish songs and dance melodies with a unique twist, along with newly composed songs.
Tickets: This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open: 7:15pm. A dessert reception with the artists will follow the performance.
About the Artists: Lonesome George is a culmination of the individual creativity of artists Joe Campbell-McArdle (guitar and vocals) and Myles McCormack (mandolin, guitar and vocals). Known for promoting activism through their music, Lonesome George have self-produced 2 albums and toured internationally, including in Ireland, England, Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Their contemporary song-writing in both the English and Irish language deals with love, life and social issues, addressing issues as wide-ranging as mental health, the treatment of refugees and the environmental crisis. These ideas are brought to life through a mixture of musical styles, multi-layered riff-led grooves, ethereal & ambient pieces, sometimes with a touch of melancholy, rip-roaring reels and other Irish dance rhythms. A selection of flavours and styles from various genres are interwoven to create a unique sound, changing from song to song, all while remaining rooted in the Irish tradition.
Quartet Malamatina, Saturday September 9, 2023, 730pm-9pm
Elements: Contemporary guitar music evoking nature
On Saturday, September 9, 2023, Sivarulrasa Gallery is pleased to present Quartet Malamatina, an incredible guitar quartet featuring Tim Beattie (Canada), Finlay Hay (Scotland), Ross Morris (England), and Lenny Ranallo (United States). Join us for an evening of sublime music!
Tickets: This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open: 7:15pm. A dessert reception with the artists will follow the performance.
About the Artists: Quartet Malamatina is comprised of members Tim Beattie (Canada), Finlay Hay (Scotland), Ross Morris (England), and Lenny Ranallo (United States).
Equally comfortable on the concert stage as in the local community centre, Quartet Malamatina takes a socially-conscious approach to programming and presentation, sharing the expressive potential of concert music and forging new audiences in the process.
Quartet Malamatina is building upon the culturally diverse and longstanding traditions of music for guitar ensemble through a wide range of commissioning, arranging, multidisciplinary collaboration, education, and community engagement activities.
Lauded for their “immensely colourful, lyrical and expressive playing” (Laura Snowden), Quartet Malamatina have worked with some of the most exciting young filmmakers and composers in the U.K., developing programmes that challenge conventions of genre classification and presentation.
Quartet Malamatina’s 2023 U.K. Tour included a residency at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, an appearance on BBC Radio Scotland, and concerts at the Beacon Arts Centre (Greenock), Billiard Room Sessions (Govan), Carlisle Cathedral (Carlisle), Gatehouse Music Society (Dumfries), Festival Drayton Centre (Market Drayton), and Stevenson Hall (Glasgow).
Music in the Glen (traditional Irish trio), Thursday July 6, 2023, 730pm-9pm
Music from Ireland with Music in the Glen
On Thursday, July 6, 2023, Sivarulrasa Gallery is pleased to present Music in the Glen, a traditional Irish Trio featuring Brendan Mulholland (flute), Conor Lamb (uilleann pipes, whistles) and Deirdre Galway (guitar). This enchanting evening of music will include a mix of traditional and newly composed Irish music on pipes, flute, whistles and guitar.
Tickets: This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open: 7:15pm. A dessert reception with the artists will follow the performance.
About the Artists: Music In The Glen are an exciting new trio performing the very best of Irish traditional music. Featuring the combined talents of Brendan Mulholland (flute), Conor Lamb (uilleann pipes, whistles), and Deirdre Galway (guitar), these musicians deliver the infectious rhythm and soul which are the hallmarks of Irish music.
Forged from a relationship of 20 years playing music together, Conor and Brendan have joined forces with Deirdre on accompaniment to create a sound that draws upon a long developed bond and mutual musical understanding.
Each musician is a respected artist in their own field. Through different projects they have performed across the globe from Belfast to Washington, Moscow and Seoul in venues ranging from local folk clubs to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the Milwaukee Irish Festival Main Stage. Individually they have featured on a dozen albums and have performed with a variety of international acts including Réalta, Gráinne Holland, Craobh Rua and Mary Dillon. Collectively they are one of the finest trios on the Irish music scene today.
Nathan Bredeson & Michael Ibsen (classical guitar duo), Saturday Sept 21, 2019, 730pm-9pm
Made in Canada: New Music for Guitar
On Saturday, Sept 21, 2019, Sivarulrasa Gallery is pleased to present Nathan Bredeson and Michael Ibsen, Made in Canada: New Music for Guitar, a classical guitar concert.
Nathan Bredeson and Michael Ibsen are two exciting up-and-coming Canadian musicians who are gaining international acclaim for their music-making on the guitar. Made in Canada: New Music for Guitar is their Ontario tour celebrating Canadian music for solo guitar and guitar duo. Their tour, which includes performances in Kingston, Almonte, Ottawa, Toronto, and Hamilton, features music by a wide range of Canada’s brightest living composers, written for or commissioned by Canadian guitarists, showcasing the richness and diversity of the repertoire.
Tickets: This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open: 7:15pm. A dessert reception with the artists will follow the performance.
About the artists: Nathan Bredeson is an award-winning guitarist and composer who completed his Master of Music degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee under the tutelage of the Cuban guitar virtuoso Rene Izquierdo. He has been featured in CBC Music’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30”. He has placed in several national and international guitar competitions and his composition ‘Astral Projection’ took first prize in the 2016 Ottawa Guitar Society Composition Competition.
Michael Ibsen has performed as a soloist and chamber instrumentalist across Canada, the northwestern United States, and the Netherlands, holds a Master of Music degree from UBC in Vancouver, and now studies at Conservatorium Maastricht in the Netherlands with Carlo Marchione. Michael works to expand the guitar repertoire through transcriptions and commissioning new music, which is why he gravitates especially towards modern, contemporary, and baroque music.
Fánaid, (Irish traditional trio): Thursday July 4, 2019, 730pm-9pm
On Thursday July 4, 2019, Sivarulrasa Gallery is pleased to present Fánaid, an Irish traditional trio, for an unforgettable evening of acoustic music and song.
From County Down in Ireland, Fánaid have spent many years gathering local songs and music. Traditional songs often present an informative perspective on shared history; tales of lived experiences, significant events and communal hardships are passed down from generation to generation often wrapped in subtle metaphors and catchy melodies. Fánaid’s performance at Sivarulrasa Gallery will explore the rich song tradition associated with the linen industry both before and after the industrial revolution and its impact on the lives of the working people. The songs will be interspersed with lively jigs, reels and hornpipes as well as more reflective slow airs and solo pieces.
Tickets: This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open: 7:15pm. A reception with the artists will follow the performance.
About the artists: Fánaid are a group of three musicians who met by chance in a queue for an Irish festival and have been playing music together ever since. They bring together fiddle, wooden flute and classical guitar and their music is drawn from their native province of Ulster in the north of Ireland.
Kevin McCullagh is a fiddle player, DJ and sound artist from Belfast, where he has been an active member of the traditional music scene for over 20 years. His fiddle playing draws inspiration from the music of Donegal where he spent much time as child. He holds a Masters in Sonic Arts from Queens’ University of Belfast and in 2018 collaborated with fiddle player Conor Caldwell, appearing on his album ‘To Belfast…’.
Fióna Ní Mhearáin is a flute player, singer and fluent Irish speaker from Belfast. She sings in both Irish and English and her style is influenced by the northern singers such as Maurice Leyden. Taught by Davy Maguire, she has a love of traditional flute playing, particularly the strong and punchy Belfast and Northern flute styles. She is a member of the traditional three piece female harmony group Sí and the contemporary vocal choir HIVE.
Paddy Morgan is a guitar player who has developed a unique style of guitar accompaniment that seeks to remain faithful to tradition while exploring new techniques for the guitar in Irish music drawn from a diverse background including flamenco and jazz. He has recorded a solo album of original compositions and has also released albums with singers Mai Hernon and Rosie Stewart and most recently with acclaimed traditional trio d’Bize.
Adam Cicchillitti & Steve Cowan (classical guitar duo), Saturday Sept 22, 2018, 730pm-9pm
Transatlantic Guitars: From the Old to the New World
On Sept 22, 2018, Sivarulrasa Gallery is pleased to present a duo concert, Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan, Transatlantic Guitars: From the Old to the New World. Get ready for a mesmerizing evening of music in our intimate art gallery setting by two superbly talented classical guitarists!
Tickets: This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open: 7:15pm. A reception with the artists will follow the performance.
About the Artists: Considered among the most promising guitarists of their generation, Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan form an exciting and unique duo that focuses on expanding the contemporary classical guitar repertoire through commissions and collaborations with living composers.
Currently completing doctorates at McGill University with acclaimed guitarist Jérôme Ducharme, Cicchillitti (Dmus., 2022) and Cowan (Dmus., 2019) present daring, virtuoso programs featuring new music for the guitar from prominent Canadian composers as well as a mix of their own arrangements of impressionist works from 20th-century France and Spain.
Having recently collaborated on an album of Spanish guitar music under the Analekta label, these two long-time friends and award-winning guitarists are touring the Canadian East with Debut Atlantic in 2018. Their next album with Analekta will feature the music of multiple generations of celebrated Canadian composers and will be released in August 2019.
Wayne Eagles, Dave Schroeder & Jesse Stewart (jazz trio), Saturday Nov 18, 2017, 730pm-9pm
Wayne Eagles Trio
Sivarulrasa Gallery is pleased to collaborate with JazzN.ca to present the Wayne Eagles Trio, featuring Wayne Eagles on guitar, Dave Schroeder on upright bass and Jesse Stewart on percussion.
This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open 7:15pm. A reception with the artists will follow the performance.
This intimate jazz program features original material by Wayne Eagles as well as some magically re-imagined standards, including Footprints (Wayne Shorter), For AH (Wayne Eagles), Nardis (Miles Davis), Stella By Starlight (Victor Young), La Tin (Wayne Eagles), Round Midnight (Thelonious Monk), and more.
About the Artists: Wayne Eagles is known for his unique guitar style, which incorporates diverse influences from textural soundscapes and free jazz to old school fusion and progressive rock. A musician for over four decades and a professional guitar instructor for more than two decades, Wayne Eagles’ education includes undergraduate and graduate Music degrees complimented by many years of private study, research and master-class attendance. He is a performance instructor and ensemble director at Carleton University, Ottawa.
Dave Schroeder is a bassist, guitarist, composer and educator based in Ottawa. In 2011, he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami, becoming the only Canadian electric bassist ever to attain this honour. He currently teaches music at Carleton University, Ottawa, remaining active as a session bassist and guitarist.
Jesse Stewart is an award-winning composer, improviser, percussionist, visual artist, instrument builder, researcher, writer, educator, and community activist dedicated to re-imagining the spaces between artistic disciplines. He lives in Ottawa, where he is an Associate Professor of music in Carleton University’s School for Studies in Art and Culture and an adjunct professor in the Visual Arts program at the University of Ottawa.
KATHLYN STEVENS (violin soloist): Saturday Aug 26, 2017, 730pm-9pm
Obsession
This event is SOLD OUT. Please join our notification list to receive early notification of future events.
Doors open 7:15pm. A reception with the artist will follow the performance.
Born in Almonte, Ontario, Kathlyn Stevens currently serves as Assistant Concertmaster with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. On Aug 26, 2017 she returns to her hometown with Obsession, a captivating violin solo program at Sivarulrasa Gallery, featuring works by J.S. Bach, Georg Philip Telemann, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, and Eugene Ysäye.
Kathlyn Stevens holds a Performance Diploma from the Mount Royal Conservatory as well as a Bachelor of Music and Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. She graduated in 2009 with her MMUS from the University of Ottawa. Her teachers have included William Van der Sloot, Lorand Fenyves, Erika Raum and David Stewart.
She has performed with the Canadian Opera Company, the National Arts Centre and the Winnipeg Symphony. She has played with Ottawa’s premier chamber orchestra, the Thirteen Strings. She also performs regularly with Consortium Aurora Borealis as well as the Martin Blanchet Jazz Quintet.
EMILI LOSIER (soprano) & DANIEL RAMJATTAN (guitar): Saturday May 27, 2017, 730pm-9pm
Four Centuries of Love and Longing
Emili Losier
Daniel Ramjattan
Sivarulrasa Gallery is pleased to present Four Centuries of Love and Longing, a classical music concert with voice and guitar. This evening of art song and arias showcases a dynamic set of pieces, arranged and composed for guitar and the soprano voice. It includes works by many great composers, including Purcell, Schubert, Grieg, Faure, De Falla and Argento.
Love has always been a great inspiration to artists and this program delves into the many ways love manifests in our lives, whether through the calmness it instills, the frenzy of a burning passion, the loyalty of devotion, or the emptiness of betrayal.
About the Artists: Finnish-Canadian soprano Emili Losier began singing as a child with the Royal Conservatory of Music and, after performing her first role as Hodel in The Fiddler on the Roof with the Chilliwack Performing Arts Society, she knew she wanted to be trained as an opera singer. This brought her to Finland, where she completed a Bachelor of Music degree, an Artistic Diploma in Performance and a Master’s degree in Opera from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. She continues to give solo concerts and works with orchestras in Canada and Finland.
Daniel Ramjattan began performing the guitar when he was ten years old in Stratford, Ontario. He has performed in many concert venues in Canada and the U.S. He has won several prizes and awards, and placed as a finalist in many national and international competitions, including 2nd place in the 2016 FCMF National Music Competition, held in Edmonton, Alberta. He holds a Master’s degree and a Bachelor of Music degree in classical guitar performance from the University of Ottawa. He will be pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Toronto in Fall 2017.
ADAM CICCHILLITTI: Saturday April 15, 2017: 730pm-9pm
Through time and space: A portrait for guitar
Adam Cicchillitti mesmerizes with a repertoire spanning over 300 years of music, from Bach and Scarlatti to the nationalist folk music of Spain, to his own compositions, and culminating with modern North American works that continue to push the boundaries of the instrument.
Doors open at 715pm/performance starts at 730pm/coffee, tea & cake reception with the artist will follow.
About the artist: Originally from Montreal, classical guitar soloist Adam Cicchillitti’s competition successes have placed him on concert stages across Canada and the United States. Adam has performed as a featured soloist at Ottawa’s premier guitar event Guitare Alla Grande and at several of Eastern Canada’s prominent concert halls. Most recently in 2016, Adam and baritone Philippe Courchesne-Leboeuf toured the Canadian east coast with les Jeunesses Musicales Canada.