Rob Dinwoodie is known for his ability to capture a historical event or character of the west in a song. For the last six years, he has produced the Cowboy Dinner Show at O’Keefe Ranch, which promotes the B.C. West and its history. Rob Dinwoodie is known for his love of the cowboy lifestyle, and that spills over into his song writing, music and entertaining. 

Blu & Kelly Hopkins are an award winning, songwriting, multi instrumentalist acoustic duo. The couple are a bona fide channel for Classic and Contemporary Folk/Roots music. Focusing on original material their extensive repertoire lets them blend traditional and contemporary tunes into their show, with a dash of humour, to achieve an entertaining, exciting yet mellow brew of good times, good tunes. Kelly’s warm harmonies combine nicely with Blu’s smoky baritone voice for a wonderful relaxed sound.

Charismatic, engaging and humorous, Blu & Kelly Hopkins and their brand of “Organic Acoustic Music” are winning new fans and charming audiences wherever they play.

Rob Dinwoodie is known for his ability to capture a historical event or character of the west in a song. For the last six years, he has produced the Cowboy Dinner Show at O’Keefe Ranch, which promotes the B.C. West and its history. Rob Dinwoodie is known for his love of the cowboy lifestyle, and that spills over into his song writing, music and entertaining. 

Blu & Kelly Hopkins are an award winning, songwriting, multi instrumentalist acoustic duo. The couple are a bona fide channel for Classic and Contemporary Folk/Roots music. Focusing on original material their extensive repertoire lets them blend traditional and contemporary tunes into their show, with a dash of humour, to achieve an entertaining, exciting yet mellow brew of good times, good tunes. Kelly’s warm harmonies combine nicely with Blu’s smoky baritone voice for a wonderful relaxed sound.

Charismatic, engaging and humorous, Blu & Kelly Hopkins and their brand of “Organic Acoustic Music” are winning new fans and charming audiences wherever they play.

Juno-nominated Cris Derksen is an internationally respected Indigenous cellist and composer. Hailing from a line of chiefs from North Tall Cree Reserve on her father’s side and a line of strong Mennonite homesteaders on her mother’s, Dersken braids the traditional and contemporary, weaving her classical background and her Indigenous ancestry together with new school electronics to create genre-defying music. 

Juno-nominated Cris Derksen is an internationally respected Indigenous cellist and composer. Hailing from a line of chiefs from North Tall Cree Reserve on her father’s side and a line of strong Mennonite homesteaders on her mother’s, Dersken braids the traditional and contemporary, weaving her classical background and her Indigenous ancestry together with new school electronics to create genre-defying music. 

MELODY DIACHUN is a vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and a warm performer praised for her “soulful confidence, exquisite intonation, phrasing, and sense of time.”-All About Jazz. With five albums as leader, Melody is an increasingly significant artist with her own sound, style, and approach to creating new music. Notable recordings include “EQ” and “Metaphora” with Altered Laws. The latter won ‘Outstanding Jazz Record of The Year’ at the 2008 Western Canadian Music Awards and was nominated for a JUNO. A year later, Melody was nominated for ‘Female Vocalist of the Year’ at the National Jazz Awards. “She is – and will always be – a force to reckon with in contemporary vocal music.”-Toronto Music Report

MELODY DIACHUN is a vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and a warm performer praised for her “soulful confidence, exquisite intonation, phrasing, and sense of time.”-All About Jazz. With five albums as leader, Melody is an increasingly significant artist with her own sound, style, and approach to creating new music. Notable recordings include “EQ” and “Metaphora” with Altered Laws. The latter won ‘Outstanding Jazz Record of The Year’ at the 2008 Western Canadian Music Awards and was nominated for a JUNO. A year later, Melody was nominated for ‘Female Vocalist of the Year’ at the National Jazz Awards. “She is – and will always be – a force to reckon with in contemporary vocal music.”-Toronto Music Report

Songs of Love and Springtime - Songs of Nature

Spring: the season of Nature’s awakening, and the season of love for all mortal beings!  AURA Chamber Choir celebrates this “amorous and fair season” with Songs of Nature, a potpourri of European choral music that spans five centuries. 

The title of our concert is taken from a set of partsongs by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak that celebrates the wondrous beauty and spirituality of the natural world.  AURA will perform three selections from this set, and four of his Six Moravian Lyrics, a lighthearted but touching glimpse of village romance.  Both sets will be performed in English. 

The program’s featured work is by Dvorak’s greatest fan and booster, Johannes Brahms: the Liebeslieder Waltzer (Lovesong Waltzes), op. 52.  In this set for mixed chorus and piano four hands, Brahms brilliantly pours the passion of the Gypsy musicians he heard in Viennese cafes into the vessel of the waltz and brews a drink that burns with the intoxication of love in all its forms: blissful and sweet, desolate and bitter, and so much more besides.  At the keyboard we have AURA’s award-winning pianist Marjorie Close and special guest Terry Logan, noted voice teacher and choir director in her own right.