St. Catharines is the entertainment capital of Niagara! From professional and amateur theatre, fine art and contemporary art galleries, Canadian performing artists, Jazz, Motown, and contemporary rock bands to major festivals and events year-round. Come and enjoy such popular events as Canada Day celebrations in historic downtown and in Port Dalhousie, or cultural festivals like May’s Niagara Folk Arts Festival, free summer evening concerts in Montebello Park and Ribfest – featuring the “Blues” and Ribs!
The following theatre, music and dance shows are presented at various locations in St. Catharines and the surrounding area.
October 14, 2023 | 11:00AM
Gallery Players of Niagrag presents SOUTHERN EXPOSURE – ADAPTIVE PERFORMANCE – 11:00 AM
St. Catharines United Mennonite Church, 335 Linwell Rd.
This concert is one hour in length.
The Southern Exposure Quintet returns with favourites by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla and Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. And they delve deeper into the South American repertoire to showcase dazzling music by Latin greats: Heitor Villa-Lobos, Luiz Bonfá, Celso Machado, João Guimarães (Pernambuco) and Maximo Diego Pujol. Music arranged by Timothy Phelan. Live performance only.
October 14, 2023 | 3:00PM
Gallery Players of Niagrag presents SOUTHERN EXPOSURE!
St. Catharines United Mennonite Church, 335 Linwell Rd.
The Southern Exposure Quintet returns with favourites by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla and Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. And they delve deeper into the South American repertoire to showcase dazzling music by Latin greats: Heitor Villa-Lobos, Luiz Bonfá, Celso Machado, João Guimarães (Pernambuco) and Maximo Diego Pujol. Music arranged by Timothy Phelan. Live & Online performances available.
October 22, 2023 | 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
NSO NOW: The Classics of Rodgers & Hammerstein
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Partridge Hall, will be alive with the sound of music as the NSO welcomes Charlotte Knight, Jay Dref, and Nathan Keoughan to sing the classics of Rodgers and Hammerstein. After highly distinguished careers with other collaborators, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II teamed up in July 1942 for their first collaboration: a musical adaptation of Green Grow the Lilacs. That musical would eventually become Rodgers & Hammerstein’s iconic Oklahoma!. A milestone in the development of the American musical, it also marked the beginning of the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history, and was followed by Carousel, South Pacific, The King And I, Cinderella, and The Sound of Music, all contributing songs to the Great American Songbook.
November 12, 2023 | 3:00PM
Gallery Players of Niagrag presents BACH’S FUTURE
St. Catharines United Mennonite Church, 335 Linwell Rd.
This century-spanning program interweaves some of J.S. Bach’s most intimate and poignant music with works by later composers who owe a profound debt to the Baroque master. Julia Wedman is featured in selections from the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. The Eybler Quartet joins her on this fascinating journey of delight and discovery drawing connections to works by Joseph Haydn and Gregor Werner.
Live & Online performances available.
November 19, 2023 | 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
NSO CLASSIC: : Taiko + Bolero
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
In Ishii’s Mono-Prism, the NSO is joined by the mesmerizing and heart-pounding taiko drum ensemble Nagata Shachu, their function being to disturb heaven and earth with their powerful sound and dynamism, and to awaken the sprits. Don Juan is an orchestral favourite due to the numerous technical and musical demands on each instrument. When Richard Strauss needed some local color for his opera Der Rosenkavalier (The Cavalier of the Rose), he turned to the waltz it as shorthand for the elegance and grace of a bygone era. Ravel’s Bolero, known for its orchestral crescendo and featured soloists throughout the entire orchestra, could be his most famous composition, made even more famous by the ice dancing pair Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics.
Deember 10, 2023 | 3:00PM
GLISSANDI & GUY BANNERMAN WITH CHRISTMAS THEN AND NOW
Silver Spire United Church, 366 St Paul St.
Our gift to you: a delightful celebration of the holiday season that will take you on a journey through the traditions and festivities of Christmas. Together, we celebrate the past while embracing the present, creating a magical experience that will leave you filled with Christmas cheer and a renewed appreciation for the holiday season.
Live performance only.
December 16, 2023 | 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
NSO NOW: Brad’s Home for the Holidays
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Celebrate the holidays with the familiar sounds of the most enchanting season! The NSO’s festive concert tradition returns with holly and mistletoe, sweet sugar plums, vocalists Kaylee Harwood and Sayer Roberts, and the Laura Secord Secondary School Choir. Regardless of where you’re from, come home for the holidays with the NSO!
December 17, 2023 | 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
NSO NOW: Brad’s Home for the Holidays
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Celebrate the holidays with the familiar sounds of the most enchanting season! The NSO’s festive concert tradition returns with holly and mistletoe, sweet sugar plums, vocalists Kaylee Harwood and Sayer Roberts, and the Laura Secord Secondary School Choir. Regardless of where you’re from, come home for the holidays with the NSO!
January 28, 2024 | 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
NSO CLASSIC: Earthbeat + Brahms
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Erhuist Snow Bai brings her expressive and dynamic performance to the NSO stage with an instrument that is rarely seen. Ho’s Earthbeat is inspired by the traditions of Canada’s First Nations community, bringing one closer to the Earth’s “heartbeat.” Jiang’s River Memory is a work inspired by the Niagara Falls, contemplating on the transformation of human identity as part of the immigration and diaspora experience. Beloved composer Lau’s Between the Earth and Forever, is a poetic evocation of the space between our home and the universe, the familiar and the unknown, the earthly and the transcendent, the preciousness of nature and the abyss of environmental disaster. Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 is the last of his symphonies and possibly his finest and most moving.
February 10, 2024 | 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
NSO NOW: Soulful
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Come celebrate 50 years of R&B, Motown, Funk, Disco, and Pop by some of the finest African American recording artists and performers like Smokey Robinson, Outkast, Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Isaac Hayes, and Seal. Featuring three-time Juno Award nominee and long-time member of the iconic Canadian a cappella group, The Nylons, Gavin Hope is a natural born performer. With his lightning speed comedic timing, skills on the dance floor, and truly exceptional, velvety, emotional voice, Hope is always a fan favourite!
February 11, 2024 | 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
NSO NOW: Soulful
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Come celebrate 50 years of R&B, Motown, Funk, Disco, and Pop by some of the finest African American recording artists and performers like Smokey Robinson, Outkast, Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Isaac Hayes, and Seal. Featuring three-time Juno Award nominee and long-time member of the iconic Canadian a cappella group, The Nylons, Gavin Hope is a natural born performer. With his lightning speed comedic timing, skills on the dance floor, and truly exceptional, velvety, emotional voice, Hope is always a fan favourite!
February 24, 2024 | 7:30PM
Gallery Players of Niagrag presents PASSAGES
Co-production with Avanti Chamber Singers
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, The Recital Hall, 250 St Paul St, St.
Avanti Chamber Singers and soloist Kristin Hoff join Gallery Players to perform moving expressions of longing and beauty. Concert to include Trevor Wagler’s intimate transcriptions of Johannes Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and Mahler’s Der einsame im Herbst. Also featured, Shireen Abu-Khader’s I Forgive, Andrew Balfour’s Vision Chant, and Laura Hawley’s The Arrow and the Song. Live performance only.
March 3, 2024 | 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
NSO CLASSIC: Next Gen. Beethoven
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Who doesn’t love Beethoven? Two young talents bring twice the energy to two piano concertos! Piano Concerto No. 4 is a favorite of concert audiences and considered by many to be one of the pinnacles of the piano concerto repertoire. Piano Concerto No. 5 is known as the Emperor Concerto although it has no association with any emperor. It’s military aspects and symbolism characterize its heroic style. The Coriolan Overture represents Coriolanus’ resolve and war-like tendencies as he is about to invade Rome. The Egmont Overture, one of the last works of Beethoven’s “middle period,” is powerful and expressive and has become as famous a composition as the Coriolan Overture.
March 16, 2024 | 6:45PM
Gallery Players of Niagrag presents MOVIE NIGHT – DRIFTING
Co-Production with the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Film House, 250 St Paul St, St.
6:45pm pre-screening talk. 7:00pm screening.
A melodrama with an epic ending, Drifting stars Priscilla Dean as an American drug smuggler, and Anna May Wong (a stand-out in a secondary role) as Rose Li, daughter of an opium grower. Accompanying music will be improvised by our ever-inventive Movie Night Trio. Live performance only.
April 7, 2024 | 3:00PM
Gallery Players of Niagrag presents SONG OF SONGS
Silver Spire United Church, 366 St Paul St.
Gordon Cleland (‘cello) and Leanne Vida (soprano) bring us a celebration of love and merriment! Enjoy Beethoven’s Op. 11 trio for clarinet, ‘cello, and piano, nicknamed Gassenhuser (street song) after a popular tune brilliantly “upcycled” in the third movement. Leanne sings music by Canadian composers: Srul Irving Glick’s 7 Tableaux on the Song of Songs, and Aspects of Elizabeth by Jeff Smallman. Live & Online performances available.
April 13, 2024 | 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
NSO NOW: Classic Rock Radio
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Rock out to the greatest classic rock songs of all time! The music of Queen, The Who, Foreigner, Led Zeppelin, and many more performed by an all-star band, backed by the full power of NSO!
May 5, 2024 | 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
NSO CLASSIC: Mahler’s Symphony No. 2
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Partridge Hall, 250 St Paul St.
Niagara native Jocelyn Fralick, Turkish-Canadian Beste Kalender, the BPC, and the LSSSC join the NSO for a rousing finale to the NSO’s Diamond Anniversary Season. Voted the fifth-greatest symphony of all time in a survey of conductors carried out by the BBC Music Magazine, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 is known as the Resurrection Symphony. One of his most popular and successful works, it was also his first major composition that established his lifelong view of the beauty of the afterlife, and resurrection. In this large work, Mahler further developed the creative “sound of the distance,” his goal to compose a “world of its own,” aspects of which were already seen in Mahler’s First Symphony.
Mqy 12, 2024 | 3:00PM
Gallery Players of Niagrag presents RILIAN TRIO
Silver Spire United Church, 366 St Paul St.
In this Mother’s Day concert, the Rilian Trio presents two gorgeous works by Dvořák: the Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor and Songs My Mother Taught Me. We proudly present the world premiere of a new work by the trio’s pianist, Godwin Friesen, as well as Transfigured Night by Schoenberg, an exquisite early work arranged here for piano trio.
Live & Online performances available.
