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Dali, Gainsborough, Turner paintings to visit Whistler in new Audain show

Arts news: Dan Mangan, Alex Cuba, The Matinee perform at GO Fest
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Soldier in red Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Nugent (1764) by Thomas Gainsborough is one of 75 paintings coming to the Audain Art Museum as part of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery's masterworks exhibition. Image submitted

The Masterworks of New Brunswick's Beaverbrook Art Gallery — a collection endowed by 20th-century Canadian newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook — is coming to the Audain Art Museum.

Paintings by Salvador Dali, John Constable, Eugène Delacroix, Lucian Freud, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, John Singer Sargent, Walter Sickert, Alfred Sisley, Graham Sutherland and J.M.W. Turner are part of the tour, which comes to the Audain's temporary exhibition gallery on June 18 for a three-month visit, until Sept. 11.

In all, 75 paintings are part of the show, which also includes key works in Canadian art by Lawren Harris, Emily Carr, Cornelius Krieghoff and James Wilson Morrice.

The exhibition is the only stopover for the Beaverbrook collection in British Columbia.

The Audain's executive director Suzanne Greening said in a release that the exhibition is "a unique opportunity to spend time with old friends and make new acquaintances. For example, Salvador Dali's Santiago El Grande is considered one of his most important surrealist works and is sure to inspire awe."

Other works in the show include San Vigilio, Lake Garda (1913) by John Singer Sargent, Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Nugent (1764) by Thomas Gainsborough, and The Fountain of Indolence (1834) by J.M.W. Turner.

The Masterworks is the first national and international tour of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery's collection, organized in 2009 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the gallery, which is based in Fredericton.

When the Beaverbrook Art Gallery opened in 1959, Dr. W.G. Constable, the former director of Britain's National Gallery, said the collection was "incomparably the greatest contribution made by Lord Beaverbrook to the arts in Canada."

For more information visit www.audainartmuseum.com.

GO Fest music lineup announced

Two-time Juno- and Polaris Music Prize-winning singer-songwriter Dan Mangan is one of three performers playing free concerts during GO Fest, Whistler's Great Outdoors Festival, which takes place from May 20 to 23.

Other musicians performing at GO Fest include Grammy-nominated Latin pop singer Alex Cuba and Vancouver rockers The Matinee.

Now in its third year, GO Fest celebrates the intersection of winter and summer activities, where visitors and residents can indulge in all manner of outdoor pursuits from skiing and snowboarding to golfing.

Mangan performs on Friday, May 20, Cuba performs on Saturday, May 21 and The Matinee take the stage on Sunday, May 22.

All shows are at 7:30 p.m. on the main stage in Village Square.

For more information visit www.greatoutdoorsfest.com.

Choirs' busy season

Whistler Singers is presenting its annual spring concert And Now For Something Completely Different... at the Fairmont on Friday, May 6, at 8 p.m. with special guests Railtown Prophets.

Admission is free and the concert is sponsored by the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.

And back from performing at the Howe Sound Music Festival, the Whistler Children's Chorus presents its spring concert, Sing a Song, on Sunday, May 1 at 5 p.m. at Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church. There is no admission charge.

Kinderchoir program starts

The Whistler Children's Chorus is offering a new Kinderchoir program.

Kinderchoir is a five-week course designed to give children in Kindergarten an introduction to choral singing.

"Children love to sing and dance so much of the music will include movement and some simple percussion instruments," said organizer Alison Hunter.

"The youngest singers in the Whistler Children's Chorus are in Grade One. Kinderchoir offers children who will be entering Grade One in September a chance to 'try out' singing in a choir and seeing what it's all about."

Sessions incorporate singing, movement, music reading, rhythmic skill development, listening games and more.

Rehearsals take place every Tuesday beginning May 10, from 4 p.m. until 5 p.m. at the Maury Young Arts Centre.

The final performance will take place at the Whistler Multicultural Festival on June 10. Registration is limited. For more information and online registration, visit www.whistlerchorus.org or email whistlerchorus@gmail.com.

Pianist Haringer performs Liszt at Quest U

Pianist Andrew Haringer, visiting lecturer at Quest University Canada is giving a lecture and recital on Franz Liszt's Sonata in B minor, which he considers the greatest piano sonata after Beethoven.

"I will walk the audience through this epic romantic piano piece. It's a really challenging work," Haringer says.

"One can make the case that (the sonata is the greatest after Beethoven) because Liszt radically transforms what you can do with that form and genre. I will talk about how he is taking aspects of Beethoven's approach to form... and really explodes it. I'm going to talk about how that works, so the audience will have a road map and understand what is going on musically."

Liszt and the Reinvention of the Piano Sonata takes place in the MPR at Quest in Squamish on Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Entry is free and open to the public.

For more information visit www.questu.ca.

Dakota Pearl wins C-FOX battle

Pemberton country band Dakota Pearl is one of three winners of the C-FOX #willplayforbeer competition.

The band will perform on the mainstage at the PNE Fairgrounds in Vancouver during Vancouver Craft Beer Week from June 3 to 5.

Dakota Pearl and other indie winners The Brass Action and Disco Funeral were voted to the top by C-FOX listeners.

WSSF Intersection, Pro Photo winners

The American crew The Big Picture won Best of Show at Intersection at the World Ski & Snowboard Festival (WSSF) on Friday, April 15.

Their winning film showcased American skiers Chris Logan, Parker White and friends immersing themselves in comical Canadian culture and will be included as a part of their web series, Move. They took home the grand prize of $10,000.

Andrew Santos Media secured the People's Choice Award.

Audain offers Moonlight Tours

The Audain Art Museum is to begin nighttime tours of the museum this week guided by chief curator Darrin Martens.

Moonlight Tours at the Audain Art Museum start on Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. and will continue each Thursday and Friday at the same time. After this week, other education staff and volunteers will take over from Martens.

"I am very excited to be leading a guided tour through the permanent collection this week. It gives me great pleasure to share what I know about these remarkable artists and the collection with our founders, members and visitors from near and far," notes Martens.

In addition, the museum's Family Studio Sundays Program, which occurs once a month, will be happening this Sunday, April 24 at 1 p.m. Families will be guided through hands-on, engaging art projects that are geared towards children 12 and under.

Families can register at the admission desk upon arrival for these 45-minute sessions.

Both of these programs are free with admission. For more information visit www.audainartmuseum.com.