Time: 7:30PM–10:00PM

ENSEMBLE POLARIS presents

VIKINGS ON VACATION

FRIDAY APRIL 1, 2011

7:30 pm

St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Kitsilano

(1805 Larch St.)

Admission $23 ($18 sr/$10 st)

Tickets available at the door.

For more info: ense...@hotmail.com

Or call 416-588-4301 (until March 26/11)

416-305-1732 (from March 27/11)

Following the successes of a Maritime tour and recent performances in southern Ontario, Canada’s own ‘Arctic fusion’ band ENSEMBLE POLARIS will bring their innovative and big-spirited music to Vancouver on April 1, 2011, as part of their first tour in western Canada.

Polaris incorporates an eclectic palette of musical influences, colours and techniques in their sound – early, folk, Klezmer, Hot Club of Paris, middle Eastern and southeast Asian, traditional Scandinavian, Celtic, Cape Breton, eastern European, classical, improvisatory, and avant-garde. The program, named after their latest CD, VIKINGS ON VACATION, features arrangements of traditional music from northern Europe and original tunes by members of the band, including Cod’s Anatomy, Beetroots for Nico, Waltz 39.3,the Steak Tune, the Valley Girls Waltz, and much more.

POLARIS’s creative artistry, kaleidoscope of instrumental colours, and easy-going performance style has won them enthusiastic response from audiences and critics alike. BBC Music Magazine called them “A superb ensemble…The arrangements are always spot on.”

Ensemble POLARIS is:

Kirk Elliott, harp, accordion, Swedish bagpipes, violin;

Margaret Gay, cello;

Ben Grossman, hurdy gurdy;

Katherine Hill, voice, nyckelharpa;

Alison Melville, flutes, recorders, seljefløyte;

Colin Savage, clarinet, recorders, bass clarinet;

Jeffrey Wilson, percussion;

David Woodhead, guitar.