BLUES
What: Downchild Blues Band with David Vest, David Gogo and Jenie Thai
Where: McPherson Playhouse, 3 Centennial Square
When: Friday, Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $60 from rmts.bc.ca or the Royal McPherson box office (250-386-6121)
Why: Tickets are selling quickly for the 50th anniversary tour by Toronto blues kingpins the Downchild Blues Band, which lands in Victoria for a performance Friday at the McPherson Playhouse. Led by guitarist Donnie (Downchild) Walsh and singer Chuck Jackson, with special guests David Vest, David Gogo and Jenie Thai in tow, the group will look to continue an in-concert winning streak that began in June at the Toronto Jazz Festival, with a show that drew more than 10,000 people for a set featuring special guests Dan Aykroyd and Paul Shaffer. Expect the same fun-loving feel for the band’s golden anniversary party on Friday night.
WORLD MUSIC
What: Syrian Encounter — An Evening With Orontes Quartet
Where: Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora Ave.
When: Friday, Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25 ($20 for seniors and $15 for students) from Ivy’s Bookstore, Long & McQuade, Good Earth Coffeehouse, Tanner’s Books and eventbrite.ca
Why: A multimedia presentation at the Alix Goolden Performance Hall on Friday featuring poetry and prose has a unique twist — it will be headlined by a group of musicians from war-torn Syria. In addition to contributions from author Deborah Campbell and musician Celso Machado, the event will showcase the music of the Orontes Quartet, a guitar ensemble from Damascus. The group (brought to Victoria through a fellowship with the University of Victoria and Victoria Conservatory of Music instructor Alexander Dunn) is the first act of its kind to be brought together in a safe country by a U.S.-based program that supports threatened artists from around the globe. Highest recommendation.
THEATRE
What: The Birds
Where: CCPA Performance Hall, 1701 Elgin Rd.
When: Oct. 17 through Oct. 20
Tickets: $18.50 to $27.50 from eventbrite.ca
Why: The first production of the 2019-2020 season by students of the Canadian College of Performing Arts opens its limited run tonight, with one of Western theatre’s oldest comedies making its Victoria debut. Yvette Nolan’s adaptation of The Birds reimagines the Fifth-century fantasy-comedy by playwright Aristophanes for the modern age, with reconciliation and Indigenous peoples in Canada replacing Ancient Greece as the setting. Métis playwright and director Keith Barker, with an assist from Lindsay Delaronde, the City of Victoria’s Indigenous Artist in Residence, will guide what should be a highlight of the students’ season.
