Surrey City Orchestra will perform a version of The Nutcracker with a culturally diverse twist on Saturday, Nov. 30.
The ensemble will be joined by classical ballet dancers from Newton’s Central Dance Academy, along with Chinese, Ukrainian and Arab dancers from Hanyang Arts Society, Kvitka Ukrainian School of Dance and Ammara Dance Company. Singers with Surrey Children’s Choir will also perform.
The music and dance of Tchaikovsky’s classic will take the stage at Chandos Pattison Auditorium (10238 168 St., in the Fraser Heights area) starting at 7:30 p.m.
Promises a post on the orchestra’s website: “Featuring local, cross-cultural dance and chorale groups, this performance of The Nutcracker celebrates the incredible talents and diverse backgrounds of Surrey’s dance and vocal artists, and will be unlike any version you have seen before.”
Tickets for the concert start at $25 each at brownpapertickets.com.
• RELATED STORY, from October: With ‘Nutcracker’ and other concerts planned, Surrey City Orchestra looks for donors.
“We would really like this to be an annual event,” said Ellen Farrugia, a violinist who co-founded the orchestra a couple years ago and serves as its board chair.
In October, the orchestra hosted an invite-only launch of a membership drive at a Rosemary Heights-area home, where singer Mark “Mr. O Canada” Donnelly performed with a string quartet.
“We want people to know about us and what we’re doing. It’s really just to spread more awareness about this orchestra as we move forward and make all these concerts happen – the ones we have ideas for,” Farrugia said later.
Surrey City Orchestra Society is a registered non-profit with a mandate to bring “high-quality performances to all communities in Surrey, including cross-cultural, and inter-generational programs that reflect the city as a whole.”
Officially, following several concerts at various venues over the past couple of years, 2019 is the inaugural season for the SCO, whose music director and conductor is Stuart Martin, a Semiahmoo Secondary grad.
More details about the orchestra’s The Nutcracker concert are posted to surreycityorchestra.org.
Elsewhere in Surrey, Royal City Youth Ballet returns with its production of The Nutcracker on Dec. 14 and 15, with four daytime shows at Surrey Arts Centre. For details, visit royalcityyouthballet.org or call 604-501-5566.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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