The National Arts Centre Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Ottawa, Ontario led by music director Alexander Shelley. The NAC Orchestra's primary concert venue is Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Since its inception, the Orchestra has commissioned more than 90 works, mostly from Canadian composers. The NAC Orchestra has made over 50 commercially released recordings. The Orchestra has visited more than 125 cities in Canada and more than 130 cities internationally in its 51-year history, including a coast-to-coast Canadian tour in 1999 and again in 2017. In May 2019, the NAC Orchestra completed a major European tour, performing and delivering education events in five countries.
The National Arts Centre (NAC) is a performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre building.
Havelock-Belmont-Methuen is a township in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, in Peterborough County. On January 1, 1998, Belmont and Methuen Township amalgamated with the Village of Havelock to form what is now Havelock-Belmont-Methuen.
Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place each July in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. While the festival's lineup historically focused on blues music at its inception, it has increasingly showcased mainstream pop, hip hop, reggae, rock and EDM in recent years. Bluesfest has become the second largest music festival in Canada and the third largest music festival in North America.
Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian music festival founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a few decades, it returned to Orillia in 2000. Ruth Jones, her husband Dr. Crawford Jones, brother David Major and Pete McGarvey organized the first Mariposa Folk Festival in August 1961. The inaugural event, covered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, featured all Canadian performers. The festival grew in popularity, size and rowdiness until the popularity of the 1963 festival, and the lack of sufficient security, led to a backlash from town locals. The city of Orillia secured a court injunction to prevent the festival from continuing in the town limits. The first festival held in the Toronto area, in 1964, was at Maple Leaf Stadium. The subsequent three festivals were held at Innis Lake in Caledon, northwest of the city. In the 1970s it was held on the Toronto Islands before shifting to Harbourfront (Toronto) and Bathurst Street and later Molson Park in Barrie. In 2000, the Mariposa Folk Festival was invited back to Orillia by city councilors Tim Lauer and Don Evans. The festival continues to be held in Orillia. As well as folk music, the festival highlights other aspects of folk culture including dance, crafts, storytelling.
Walter Prystawski, CM is a Canadian classical violinist, conductor and teacher. For many years he was the concertmaster of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.
Paul Valdemar Horsdal,, commonly known as Valdy, is a Canadian folk and country musician whose solo career began in the early 1970s. He is known for "Rock and Roll Song", his first mainstream single. Valdy is the winner of two Juno Awards for Folk Singer of the Year and Folk Entertainer of the Year and has received seven additional Juno nominations. His fourteen albums, including four which are certified gold, have achieved sales of nearly half a million copies.
The Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (OSO) is a full size orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, including professional, student and amateur musicians. With around 100 musicians, the OSO is Ottawa's largest orchestra, which allows it to perform large symphonic repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Canadian composers.
The Havelock Country Jamboree was a four-day country music camping festival held in the village of Havelock, Ontario. Called Canada's Largest Country Music and Camping Festival, the festival has a Thursday through Sunday schedule on the third weekend in August every year. For the 2019 version of the event, the Jamboree built twin stages, with each stage measuring 60 ft (18 m) wide by 40 ft (12 m) deep. The festival had been on-hold due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021. It was announced on the Jamboree website in June 2023 that the Havelock Jamboree was closing permanently.
Ottawa Festivals, is a member-based organization based in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, dedicated to supporting and promoting the festival industry in the region. Established in 1996, the organization comprises 53 festivals that showcase a diverse range of cultures, arts, and entertainment to the local community.
Ezra Schabas, was a Canadian musician, educator and author. He was active in Canada's musical life beginning in 1952, when he emigrated from Cleveland with his family. During his time in Canada, he was a leading musical educator, clarinetist, and administrator in Toronto's musical institutions. He wrote several books on Canadian and American musical history, and he was appointed to the Order of Ontario and made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Toronto Mass Choir is a Canadian gospel music group that incorporates contemporary gospel, traditional gospel as well as Caribbean music influences; founded in 1988.
Owen McBride is an Irish-born folk singer and storyteller, primarily performing traditional Irish and Scottish music. McBride settled in Toronto in 1963 and became a fixture in the Toronto folk scene. McBride was a key figure in the folk revival movement in Canada and in North American in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at major folk music festivals like the Mariposa Folk Festival and the Philadelphia Folk Festivals. For this role, he was inducted in the Mariposa Folk Festival Hall of Fame in 2019. He continues to be an active performer in the folk music club and festival scenes.
Richard Flohil is a Canadian music promoter, publicist, former Mariposa Folk Festival artistic director and journalist based in Toronto. Flohil now runs a public relations company, Richard Flohil and Associates.
Blake Pouliot is a Juno-nominated Canadian professional classical violinist. Pouliot is currently Soloist-in-Residence at the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal.
Kansas Stone is a Canadian country band from Barrie, Ontario consisting of core members and longtime friends Brian Harwood and Matt Davey, both of whom sing and play guitar. Kansas Stone is a high energy country band that fuels off of many different styles. Hailing from Ontario, Canada they deliver a sound that ranges from old and new country, blues, rock, and more. Kansas stone has become notorious for their catchy melodies and well crafted original songs.
