Neighbours of Halifax South - Best Version Media

09/03/2025

In our September cover story, we speak with Peter Halpin, Executive Director of the Association of Atlantic Universities, to gain his insights on how university students from across Canada and other countries impact the local community.

07/18/2025

Summer Sounds Returns to St. Matthew’s United Church

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) St. Matthew’s United Church presents the 2025 version of Summer Sounds this August, with an exciting and eclectic lineup of local musicians. All lunchtime concerts are held on Tuesdays from 12:15 to 1:00 p.m., beginning August 5 and running through August 26. Admission is by freewill offering (suggested donation of $10).

Summer Sounds is sponsored by St. Matthew’s United Church and the Downtown Halifax Business Commission.

The series kicks off with Something to Sing About – Hits of the '60s and '70s, featuring Margaret Champion, Rick Gunn, Scott Taylor, and friends on August 5. (https://twitter.com/magchampion)

Other performers this summer include:

August 12 – Xaver Varnus, Organ (https://www.youtube.com/user/xavervarnus)

August 19 – Atlantic Sound Machine (Stephanie McKeown, Conductor) (https://www.facebook.com/atlnticsoundmachine/)

August 26 – Rhapsody Quintet (rhapsodyquintet.com) with pianist Ria Kim, including the premiere of a new work by composer John Plant titled Dances. Woe. Dreams.

Saint Matthew’s United Church is located at the foot of Barrington Street in downtown Halifax.

For more information, please visit https://www.stmatts.ns.ca.

05/07/2025

https://sidedoor.link/l/Zls0p7ZXPV5zwOfSmRC0

Several of Nova Scotia’s foremost female musicians join forces in GIMME SHELTER, a benefit concert showcasing women helping women to raise funds for Adsum for Women and Children. The outstanding NS vocalists include Linda Carvery, Krisanne Crowell, Kitty Farmer, Shirley Jackson, Amelia McMahon, Cy...

05/07/2025

CLASSICAL MUSIC SHOWCASED AT 2025 ECMAS

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk) Classical musicians take centre stage at the 2025 East Coast Music Awards in Newfoundland, as the Canadian Music Centre (CMC) and Debut Atlantic present two events highlighting the extraordinary classical talent of the Atlantic region. The ECMAs take place from May 7-11 in St. John’s.

First up is a panel for ECMA delegates on Friday, May 9 from 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. at the Delta Hotel. Participants at Cross-Genre Collaboration: Building audiences through Classical Music will get practical advice from musicians Jodee Richardson and Nicole Hand about working with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra (NSO) to present cross-genre concerts. Fiddler Gina Burgess also will share her experiences performing across genres. NSO CEO Hugh Donnan hosts.

On Saturday, May 10, CMC and Debut Atlantic present the 2025 Classical Showcase, hosted by Memorial University in its D.F. Cook Recital Hall at 3:00 p.m. Showcasing artists are Blackwood Ensemble (Jeff Reilly, bass clarinet), with India Gailey (cello), Ben Diamond (guitar), Essential Opera, Jennifer King (piano) and India Gailey (cello). Doors open at 2:30 p.m., and the event is free, with complimentary shuttle service for delegates from the Delta to the venue. The two classical awards – Classical Release of the Year and Classical Composer of the Year – will be announced at the showcase, co-hosted by Andrew Mercer and Holly Nimmons, CEO of the Canadian Music Centre.

About CMC Atlantic
Established in 1989, the Atlantic Regional Office first opened on the campus of Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB. In 2015, it was relocated to Halifax. CMC Atlantic works closely with local music organizations to promote the works of over 900 Canadian composers and Canadian music. Learn more: cmccanada.org

About Debut Atlantic
Bringing Canada’s exceptional classical music artists to Atlantic Canadian communities since 1979, Debut Atlantic is one of this country’s most dynamic classical music touring organizations. Debut Atlantic continues to create and develop programs and initiatives that contribute to Atlantic Canada's cultural environment and is deeply committed to educational and community engagement, as well as artist development. More information: debutatlantic.ca

2025 Classical Composer of the Year Nominees:
Bekah Simms - Foreverdark
Florian Hoefner – Bird Island Suite: IV. Song for the Song of the Leach’s Storm Petrel
India Gailey – Butterfly Lighting Shakes the Earth
Julie Mermelstein – Bending, breaking through

2025 Classical Release of the Year Nominees:
Blackwood with India Gailey – Benedicite from Passages
India Gailey - Problematica
Measha Brueggergosman – Zombie Blizzard
SHHH!! Ensemble – Causes, 1.1 Negative Energy from An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holococene
Suzie LeBlanc – pour une Amérique engloutie from mouvance

04/15/2025

Nova Scotian pianist Jennifer King launches her new album, Souvenance, on Monday, April 28, at 7:00 p.m. at Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library. The event is free and open to all.

Souvenance is available in digital format on April 25. The new album features female composers, including rarely heard music by Ethel Smyth and F***y Mendelssohn and Jennifer’s interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s Blue.

For more information, please visit JenniferKingPiano.com.

That’s the launch of Jennifer King’s new album, Souvenance, on Monday, April 28, in Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library, at 7:00 p.m.

04/09/2025

Halifax Theatre for Young People presents The Book of Ashes from April 15 to 17 and 23 to 24 at Alderney Landing Theatre in Dartmouth. Evening shows are on April 16 and 23 at 7:00 p.m.

The Book of Ashes by Emil Sher is based on the true story of a librarian who, with the help of a child, rescued over 30,000 priceless books during the bombing of Iraq in 2003. It’s a magical tale about surviving war and maintaining hope, appropriate for children in grades three to eight, and uses shadow puppetry.

The play will also be presented in Nova Scotia schools, and school shows can be booked through Halifax Theatre for Young People. All the actors are from Nova Scotia’s Middle Eastern community.

That’s The Book of Ashes, presented by Halifax Theatre for Young People, at Alderney Landing Theatre in Dartmouth, with public shows on April 16 and 23 at 7:00 p.m.

12/17/2024

Halifax pianist Barbara Pritchard and the Canadian Music Centre present Pianissimo, a series of two informal concerts exploring new worlds of serene sounds and engaging silences.

The first concert will be held on Thursday, January 9, at 6:30 p.m. at Paul O’Regan Hall in Halifax Central Library. Works by Linda Catlin Smith, including the premiere of her piece Still Water, and Soft Horizons by Barbara Monk Feldman will be performed. The concert is free and open to the public. The second performance will take place in May.

That’s Pianissimo on Thursday, January 9, at 6:30 p.m. at Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library, with pianist Barbara Pritchard playing contemplative piano music.

12/05/2024

From the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society:

Please join us next Wednesday, 11 December 2024 at 7:00PM (Atlantic) for our upcoming RNSHS public lecture with Lois Yorke. It will be held in-person at the Halifax Central Library (in the Paul O'Regan Hall room) and online by clicking here for the Zoom link.

The Painter, His Muse, and Their Marriage: George Harvey and Priscilla Wells in Late Victorian Halifax

Abstract:
George Harvey lingers in our cultural history today only as a footnote, faintly remembered as the first headmaster of Halifax’s new Victoria School of Art and Design (now NSCAD University) in 1887. His wife Priscilla is remembered not at all. Their lives were lived at the intersections of Victorian art, literature and music in bohemian London, while in Halifax they were well-known and liked – but afterwards, the erasure of their memory was complete and deliberate. This illustrated presentation will revisit their world, reclaim their lives, and give them the voices they so richly deserve.

A graduate of Dalhousie University, Lois Yorke is the former Provincial Archivist and Director of the Nova Scotia Archives. She has spent over forty years as an archivist, editor, researcher and consultant in cultural heritage. Her long-standing involvement in women’s history has produced various articles on ‘interesting’ women from Nova Scotia’s past. Priscilla Wells is the most recent, and was discovered by accident while working on a much larger project – the first biography to explore fully the life and times of Anna Harriette Leonowens, ‘The English Governess at the Siamese Court’ – possibly the most interesting woman of them all.

11/28/2024

Kick off your holiday season as the Royal Canadian College of Organists Halifax Centre presents its annual Festival of Carols at St. Matthew’s United Church, on Monday, December 2. There will be an organ prelude at 7:00 p.m. with the Festival Service beginning at 7:30 p.m. There will be a freewill offering.

The evening features choral music from the sixty-five plus voice Festival Massed Choir, organ music from Halifax-area organists on Halifax’s biggest pipe organ, rousing congregational carols and beautiful poetry and sacred readings. Guest Reader will be the Hon. Dr. Mayann Francis, former Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.

That’s A Festival of Carols on Monday, December 2 at 7:3:0 p.m. at St. Matthew’s United Church, 1479 Barrington Street, Halifax.

10/29/2024

November's feature story explores the history and lasting legacy of the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. I was honoured to experience a personal guided tour several years ago, and the experience has stayed with me. While my immigrant ancestors arrived long before Pier 21 existed, the Museum still has much to offer anyone interested in history and the perennial costs and causes of migration.

10/24/2024

Holocaust Education Week runs from October 27 through November 6 with live presentations in Halifax at Pier 21 and Halifax Central Library. All programs are free and open to the public.

The opening program is on Sunday, October 27 at 3:00 p.m. with Keynote speaker Eva Mroczek (PRONOUNCE AVA MRO-check), whose program is called Jewish Lament Poetry Across 2500 Years. This takes place at Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library, and a reception will follow.

On Friday, November 1 at 2:00 p.m. Dr. Dorota Glowacka (PRONOUNCE glow-VATS-kah) will be speaking at Paul O’Regan Hall about the Holocaust through the lens of diaries written by young writers during the Shoah. US Consul General Viki Limaye will provide opening remarks.

On Monday, November 2 at 6:30 p.m. Holocaust survivor Eva Kuper will be in conversation with the Azrieli Foundation’s Elin Beaumont about her book, A Beacon of Light, in Rowe Hall, Canadian Museum of Immigration. A reception will follow.

The closing program is on Wednesday, November 6 at Paul O’Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library at 6:30 p.m. with writer Peggy Walt and cellist Shimon Walt about their trip to Lithuania and Estonia in 2023. Shimon visited sites where his family had been murdered and played a borrowed cello at Ponar. This talk will be illustrated with photos and music, and the speakers will be interviewed by retired CBC broadcaster, Olga Milosevich (PRONOUNCE mill-OSS-a-vitch).

The full schedule is available online at www (dot) HolocaustEducation (dot) ca. Check the website closer to the dates for live-stream links.

That's the 21st annual Holocaust Education Week, with programs from October 27 to November 6, free and open to all.

10/03/2024

The Blackwood duo is launching their new recording, Passages, on Tuesday, October 8, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew’s United Church in Halifax. Blackwood consists of organist Peter-Anthony Togni (PRONOUNCE: TAWN-yee) and bass clarinetist Jeff Reilly. They’ll be joined by special guest cellist India Gailey, who plays on two tracks on the album.

The recording will be released on all platforms digitally on October 18, and CDs will be available at the concert.

Tickets are $25 (Regular) and $15 for students, seniors and the unwaged (or anyone who identifies as needing a less expensive admission); concertgoers can pay cash at the door or e-transfer [email protected]

Bandcamp link: https://jeffreilly.bandcamp.com/album/passages
Learn more at jeffreilly.ca, or https://jeffreilly.bandcamp.com/