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Articles by Peter Robb
The Final Addition to Your ’25 Holiday Program
You are here: Home / Announcements / The Final Addition to Your ’25 Holiday Program Still need to fill that last spot on your program? We Have Heard Angels is “a non-stop joyride!” say Kantorei Minneapolis conductor, Adam Reinwald.
Win? Lose? Redblacks tie Roughriders in a strange one
After coming back from their week of rest, the Ottawa Redblacks’ momentum took a bit of a unusual pause Thursday against the West-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders at TD Place. The Redblacks remain undefeated at home after tying the Roughriders 22-22 in a game that saw Ottawa quarterback Dru Brown go down with an ankle injury and two Ottawa field goal attempts blocked by the Green Riders.
New wildlife management plan for Ottawa will offer more protection for local beavers
The City of Ottawa may soon adopt a new way of managing the local beaver population instead of lethal trapping methods. The proposal will go to city council for a final vote next week. The move is part of a new wildlife action plan that was approved by a joint meeting of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and Environment and Climate Change committees. West Carleton-March Coun. Clarke Kelly urged to new management plan for the rodents including tools such as flow devices.
Live Nation to open major new music venue in downtown Ottawa
A new venue is joining Live Nation’s stable of music clubs across North America, this time in Ottawa. The National Capital Commission, announced the new 2,000 seat venue will come to the former Chapters building at the corner of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive in the heart of downtown. The NCC is leasing the space to Live Nation Canada, the giant entertainment company whose other club holdings in. Canada include Toronto’s History, the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver and Midway in Edmonton.
Waste not: City slaps new limit on garbage items for curbside collection
Without any debate, City Council has approved a three-item limit for garbage collection. The policy will come into effect on Sept. 30, creating the new maximum amount of items which can be set out for curbside waste collection. Council had voted in June 2023 to implement such a plan to ease the impact on the Trail Road Landfill. The City of Ottawa defines items as: a plastic waste bag a bin with a maximum capacity of up to 140 litres.
Northern Super League brings women's pro soccer to Canada next spring
It is turning out to be a banner time for women’s professional sports with the announcement of that an all-Canadian women’s pro soccer league will be on the pitch next spring. The Northern Super League will debut in April 2025, with clubs in six cities across Canada. The announcement follows the awarding of a women’s National Basketball Association team for Toronto and the massively successful launch of the Professional Women’s Hockey League which includes an Ottawa franchise.
Ottawa police not investigating Tabaret statue vandalism
Ottawa Police say they are not investigating the vandalism that left the statue of Joseph-Henri Tabaret at the University of Ottawa coated in paint. Ottawa Police told Capital Current that they had still not received a call for service about a vandalism incident at University of Ottawa last week. In a statement OPS said, “Tabaret lawn at uOttawa is private property owned by the university and the Ottawa Police Service is not engaged on the campus at this time.
Memories of Kilrea: Legendary coach remembers the beginning's of the player's association as team marks Memorial Cup win
Brian Kilrea is an Ottawa legend. While signing away one poster after another, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Ottawa 67’s 1999 Memorial Cup-winning squad, the “Killer” spoke about what might be one of his more underrated accomplishments. He helped start a union. “In those days, it was called a player’s association,” said the winningest coach in junior hockey history , explaining there was a strike in professional hockey in 1967, the year, the NHL added six new teams.
Local migrant flights documentary receives award
The locally produced documentary “Waiting to Continue: The Venezuelan Asylum Seekers on Martha’s Vineyard” has been chosen to receive the Arlington International Film Festival’s Outstanding Massachusetts Filmmaker Award, Circuit Arts announced last week. The documentary short, which portrays the after-effects of last year’s unexpected arrival of nearly 50 South American migrants to the Vineyard, was created by Circuit Films filmmakers Ollie Becker, Tim Persikno and Tom Ellis.
The State of Labor Law in January 2023
Publications Related Practices & Jurisdictions Labor & Employment Administrative & Regulatory All Federal Printer-friendly Email this Article REPRINTS & PERMISSIONS Top Five Labor Law Developments for January 2023 Tuesday, February 14, 2023 More than 220,000 workers participated in over 300 total work stoppages in 2022, according to a Bloomberg Law report.Best Practices For Health Care Transactions US Executive Branch Update – February 13, 2023 TradeTalk China: February 3-10, 2023 EPA Will...
IN THE NEWS: Wednesday, Nov. 9
Good morning Ottawa. Today will be sunny and breezy with a high of 9C and a low of 3C. Red Wave milder than anticipated in U.S. midterms Results are still trickling in from the American midterms, and while the Republicans made gains, the ‘Red Wave’ many predicted failed to materialise. CBC has more. Ryan Reynolds in Ottawa after interest in purchasing Senators revealed Ryan Reynolds was spotted at the Ottawa Senators game against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
Waiting for the dough: One Ontario family's life in limbo on the list for autism services
There are just more that 53,000 places in the Rogers Centre for eager baseball fans supporting the Toronto Blue Jays. Replace each fan with a child on Ontario’s waitlist for autism services and there still wouldn’t be enough room. The Durand-Shea family of the Durham region occupies three of those seats. As the mother of seven-year-old triplet boys who are all on the spectrum, Kerry Durand-Shea knows all about the struggle’s families face, while raising children with autism in Ontario.
Vaccine passport ending March 1, Ford says
This sign outside a store in Ottawa will no longer be necessary on March 1, the province announces. [Photo @ Lieselotte Noort] By Peter Robb, 53 mins ago 0 3 min read Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Monday that the use of vaccine passports will end in the province on March 1.
IN THE NEWS: Friday, Nov. 26
By Peter Robb, 13 hours ago 0 1 min read Rain will turn to snow by the afternoon, says Environment Canada, with accumulation of up to five centimetres. The high will be 2C this morning dropping to -3C by afternoon. Eyre named Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre officially shed the word “acting” from his title on Thursday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the army officer has been made the permanent commander of Canada’s Armed Forces. The Ottawa Citizen has more.
IN THE NEWS: Friday, Oct. 29
By Peter Robb, 16 mins ago 0 1 min read Environment Canada expects a mix of sun and cloud today with a high of 11C and a low tonight of 6C. Periods of rain will begin around midnight. City delays vaccine mandate to mid-November The City of Ottawa has announced a “one-time” extension to the date by which its employees, contractors, students and volunteers are expected to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, giving them two more weeks to come into compliance with the policy.
IN THE NEWS: Thursday, Oct. 28
By Peter Robb, 1 hour ago 0 1 min read Environment Canada expects a mix of cloud and some sun today with a high of 10C and a low tonight of 0C under clear skies. Fortier’s top priority is vaccine mandate for bureaucracy Ottawa-Vanier MP Mona Fortier said her priority as the new treasury board president is following through on the vaccine mandate for federal bureaucrats. CBC has more.
IN THE NEWS: Tuesday, Oct. 26
By Peter Robb, 10 hours ago 0 1 min read Another blustery, cool day is in the forecast with a 40 per cent chance of rain through the day and into the evening, Environment Canada says. The high will be 9C and the low tonight under clearing skies will be 3C. Prime Minister names new cabinet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to reveal a major shakeup to his cabinet this morning as he enters his third mandate.
Ronald R. Drake - The Martha's Vineyard Times
Ronald R. Drake of Edgartown died on May 21, 2021, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Ron was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and was formerly the owner and operator of a roller skating rink and water-slide park in Fishkill, N.Y. He and his wife, Diane, chose to make Martha’s Vineyard their full-time home in 2009 because of their love for this Island community, and the joy of living near the water, where Ron enjoyed fishing and metal detecting.
Ottawa’s Frances Boyle up for major writing awards for first short story collection
Ottawa writer Frances Boyle’s first collection of short stories has been shortlisted for two awards in this pandemic year. Such success is a rare thing and worth acknowledging. To that end she answered some questions about her collection and her journey as a writer. Tell me a little bit about yourself. I grew up on the prairies, mostly in Regina, spent a few years in Montreal for university, then more than a decade in Vancouver before settling In Ottawa.
Ottawa’s new poet laureates step onto the stage
Meet Ottawa’s new poets laureate. Albert Dumont is a poet, storyteller, and an Algonquin Traditional Teacher who will be the English laureate. Dumont has published five books of poetry and short stories and two children’s books, written in three languages. His most recent book, Sitting by the Rapids (2018), is a meditation on the healing power of poetry.
Philip Chiu replaces Dutcher in Chamberfest concert series
Ottawa Chamberfest is heading into spring with seven more livestreamed concerts including one important change. The talented Canadian pianist Philip Chiu will now perform March 22 instead of Jeremy Dutcher, whose appearance has been cancelled because of travel difficulties. The fest also is offering a new way to put together a package of concerts with a flexible pass options for the remainder of the series. For more information: chamberfest.com.
Songs for Murdered Sisters film to be aired Feb. 19. Don’t miss it
I can’t think of a more horrific act of hate and misogyny than the one that occurred in the Ottawa Valley on Sept. 22, 2015. On that day three women were hunted and murdered by a hate-filled man who does not deserve to be named — ever again. He is in jail, but the memories of his victims — Carol Culleton, 66, Anastasia Kuzyk, 36, and Nathalie Warmerdam, 48 — live on as a blessing to their families. Nathalie Warmenden was one of three women murdered on Sept.22, 2015.
Christopher Plummer: Music and the Bard
This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Francais (French) Canadian actor Christopher Plummer passed away today at the age of 91 at his home in Connecticut. The following article was originally published on June 1st 2016. Preposterous ass, that never read so far To know the cause why music was ordain’d! Was it not to refresh the mind of man After his studies or his usual pain?
Third time is charming: Big Bang is back at the NAC
On Feb. 13 and 14, the Big Bang festival returns to the National Arts Centre for the third year. This time, however COVID rules require that the festival be a virtual experience. But that’s OK, there’s lots for the family to enjoy from mini concerts, online radio, interactive dance parties, a podcast and playlists. The programming is free and available online @ bigbangfestival.ca. Programming is intended for ages 5 10 12 and beyond.
What the Labor Movement Wants From a Joe Biden Administration
When Joe Biden was finally declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, many in the labor movement breathed a sigh of relief (some, like myself, a bit less enthusiastically than others).
Jeremy Dutcher, Alain Lefèvre on bill for eight Chamberfest winter concerts
Ottawa Chamberfest is offering a gift of music to warm up this bleak winter. The second half of the 2020-21 concert series starts on Jan. 16 with the Montreal baroque quartet Pallade Musica and continues with seven more concerts that will include artists such as Jeremy Dutcher, Alain Lefèvre and the Ironwood String Quartet. All eight concerts will be livestreamed. There will also be limited seating inside the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre as pandemic restrictions allow.
Libraries to take an e-book club national in 2021
More than 600 public libraries across Canada will be taking part in a first-ever national e-book club when the new year begins. The book Canadians will be asked to read from jan. 1 to Jan. 31 is Vi by Kim Thuy. The participating libraries, representing more than 85 per cent of all public libraries in Canada including the Ottawa Public Library, will offer free, unlimited access to the novel in eBook and eAudiobook formats across different platforms.
NAC English Theatre to partner with Montreal’s Black Theatre Workshop
This is a brave and important step taken by the NAC’s English Theatre. Here is some of the announcement: The National Arts Centre English Theatre, in partnership with Black Theatre Workshop, today announced an unprecedented shared curation model for the national stage.
Natasha Gauthier review: Ehnes plays Beethoven concerto with natural nobility
By Natasha Gauthier After weeks of exciting, inclusive truly diverse programming, NACO can be forgiven for presenting one ultra-traditional, all-Beethoven concert. Especially with the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birthday coming up on Dec. 16. Saturday night’s livestream featured two works from Beethoven’s “heroic” period: the Violin Concerto, written in 1806, and the Seventh Symphony, composed six years later.
Natasha Gauthier review: A little Woke music from NACO
By Natasha Gauthier In her video introduction to her 2008 piece What Keeps Me Awake, Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón describes how the New York classical music establishment made people like her feel unwelcome. She describes the piece as a kind of exorcism for the negative thoughts haunting her sleep at the time, especially about finding her place as a Latina composer of large symphonic works.
Natasha Gauthier reviews: In person and an out of body musical experience
By Natasha Gauthier I’m not going to lie: sitting in a concert hall for the first time in eight months was weird. Maybe not as weird as Jonas Kaufmann’s new cover of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You, released earlier this week, which sounds like the operatic tenor was blindfolded, drugged and locked in a recording studio for an hour with a Salvation Army band, a case of tequila, and a lot of pot.
Natasha Gauthier Review: NACO finds great Solace in a return to performance
By Natasha Gauthier After a COVID-induced absence of almost eight months, the National Arts Centre Orchestra returned to Southam Hall Saturday night for the first in a series of weekly livecast concerts. Many things have changed since the orchestra’s last performance in March. The hall seats were empty. Musicians sat at least two metres apart from each other. Everyone, including conductor Alexander Shelley, wore black face masks.
Review: NACO finds great Solace in a return to performance
After a COVID-induced absence of almost eight months, the National Arts Centre Orchestra returned to Southam Hall Saturday night for the first in a series of weekly livecast concerts. Many things have changed since the orchestra’s last performance in March. The hall seats were empty. Musicians sat at least two metres apart from each other. Everyone, including conductor Alexander Shelley, wore black face masks.
Chamberfest: Cheng2Duo gives Beethoven a Lift
COVID-19 has forced many changes on the performing arts — some devastating some imaginative. Necessity being the mother of invention as Aesop said. Musicians have been hosting concerts on front porches. Some have been standing up in front of a row of cars in drive-in theatres and others have been out standing in a field.
Frances Itani’s latest offers stories of sorrow and sunshine
In this grim year, we are all getting a lesson in sorrow from the loss of our freedoms and the loss of loved ones. We are mourning almost 9,200 souls taken by the COVID-19 plague. Yes we are learning much about grief. Into this black and white time comes the latest novel from Ottawa’s Frances Itani. The Company We Keep follows six people (and an African Grey parrot named Rico) through their own journeys with loss.
Klopoushak in charge: Chamberfest’s new artistic leader has musical diversity in mind
You’d think Carissa Klopoushak had enough on her plate. She’s a violinist with the NAC Orchestra. She’s a co-funder of the Ironwood Quartet. She started and remains the artistic director of a music festival in her hometown of Saskatoon, COVID notwithstanding. She’s part of the team behind the Classical Unbound festival in Prince Edward County in the summer and she pursue traditional Ukrainian music to honour her heritage and she plays modern folk in a Ukrainian folk-rock band Tyt i Tam.
In the livestream: Chamberfest fall concerts to feature Cheng² Duo, Russell Braun, Angela Hewitt and more
The COVID clouds are parting and Ottawa Chamberfest is set to shine some musical light on the fall season. Traditionally Chamberfest would be packing in audiences for a slew of concerts in the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre this fall and winter. Not this year, except for a small number of patrons, all of which is dependent on the infection rate in the community, but more about that later.
Chamberfest bids adieu to Borys and welcomes Carissa Klopoushak
After 13 years as artistic director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society (OCMS), Roman Borys will step down from his post on Aug. 14. He will be replaced by the first woman to hold the position on an interim basis — the multi-talented musician and administrator, Carissa Klopoushak, who is a violinist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Ironwood Quartet.
Evelyn Glennie’s listening life
Wherever Dame Evelyn Glennie goes she picks up things with an eye to making music with them. “At the moment,” she said in an interview earlier this year with ARTSFILE, “I am collecting bottle tops and plastic tops … things like that. I have a whole bag full of them. I can use them in different ways to create different types of things. “l’m a big kid to be honest,” she said, reading my lips over a Skype connection from her office.
NAC and Facebook fund online music performances
The National Arts Centre and Facebook Canada have announced a $100,000 fund to bankroll artists fees for home-based online performances. The aim of the funding is to ease the financial strain faced by performers affected by closed venues and cancelled tours in Canada caused by the COVID-19 panedemic. Facebook Canada will supply the cash and the NAC will select and co-ordinated the online performances.
The life not lived
Editor’s note, March 26, 2020: Professor Ian Donaldson FBA FRSE FAHA was one of the world’s finest Ben Jonson scholars, an international authority in the field of early modern English literary studies and a highly influential leader and advocate of the humanities in Australia.
COVID-19 cancellations: NAC, OSO, OAG, GCTC, VERSefest, National Gallery, History, War, Science and Nature museums
The National Arts Centre has cancelled all performance until April 5, the centre said in a statement on Friday morning. They were joined by the national museums in terse press release Friday afternoon. The Ottawa Symphony Orchestra has cancelled the rest of its season. “The national museums have made the decision to close the museums across Canada to visitors and all other groups, effective March 14, until further notice.
Flying high and seeing far with conductor Jessica Cottis
If Donald Trump ever bans flights from the U.K. to the U.S., Jessica Cottis could consider getting there on her own. She’s training to fly R44 helicopters and while it would involve many stops, such a flight is possible. But improbable. All kidding aside, sadly she won’t now be able to travel to Ottawa to conduct the NAC Orchestra in a concert of music written by Dutch composers. Still, Cottis has an impressive international career and is someone Ottawa fans of classical music should know about.
COVID postponement: Kiwanis Music Festival delayed until May
The annual Kiwanis Music Festival will be postponed until May as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The festival’s board made the decision after an emergency meeting Friday night. The festival will now run from May 2 to 30. This may change as the situation created by the pandemic may alter plans, festival executive director Kim Chadsey said in the media statement.
Ottawa’s Lynne Hanson caught in COVID-19 trap overseas
Ottawa singer-songwriter Lynne Hanson tours Europe a lot. She has fans there and has built up an important set of contacts in the U.K. and on the continent. She is now scrambling, with her band, to get home from Holland after the cancellation of six concerts. And she’s wondering about the fate of a U.K. tour that begins in mid-April.
COVID-19 causing cancellations; NAC shuttered, VERSefest postponed in capital
The National Arts Centre has cancelled all performance until April 5, the centre said in a statement on Friday morning. The centre’s CEO Christopher Deacon said, in the release, that the “health and safety of our visitors, artists, and staff is of paramount importance. Due to the unprecedented pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus, we are cancelling all performances and events at the National Arts Centre until Sunday April 5.
COVID-19 cancellations; NAC, OSO, GCTC, VERSefest, National Gallery, History, War, Science and Nature museums
The National Arts Centre has cancelled all performance until April 5, the centre said in a statement on Friday morning. They were joined by the national museums in terse press release Friday afternoon. The Ottawa Symphony Orchestra has cancelled the rest of its season. “The national museums have made the decision to close the museums across Canada to visitors and all other groups, effective March 14, until further notice.
COVID-19 cancellations; NAC, OSO, GCTC, VERSefest, National Gallery, History, War and Nature museums
The National Arts Centre has cancelled all performance until April 5, the centre said in a statement on Friday morning. They were joined by the national museums in terse press release Friday afternoon. The Ottawa Symphony Orchestra played the Resurrection Symphony Monday night. “The national museums have made the decision to close the museums across Canada to visitors and all other groups, effective March 14, until further notice.
Double Dutch with Simone Lamsma in Southam Hall
When the Dutch violin virtuoso Simone Lamsma steps onto the Southam Hall stage on March 21 she should feel at home. She is scheduled to perform in a concert that celebrates the long friendship between Canada and The Netherlands, the end of the Second World War and Dutch music generally. She will play the violin and cello concerto, akin, written by the composer Michel van der Aa, who is one of the leading contemporary composers in The Netherlands.
Femi Kuti, Nile Rodgers, Puss N Boots, Mavis Staples headline 2020 Ottawa Jazz Festival
Planning a festival lineup is always a tricky thing. It depends on who is touring, who you can afford and when the acts are available. Toss in a global pandemic and it’s a bit of a crap shoot. But because festivals need to start preparing for an event weeks and weeks ahead, they release line-ups and then hope.
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