PRISMA 2024 Ticket Sales

This month, PRISMA will bring world-class classical music to Powell River, BC, from June 17-29.

Tickets are selling fast! Purchase your tickets online or in person at our office located in Townsite Market. Box office hours are Tuesdays from 10-2 and Thursdays from 12-4. Tickets can also be purchased online here.

Masterclasses & Limelight Concert Schedule

A complete schedule is now available on website at the bottom of the festival web page. Click this link and scroll down to discover when each event is happening!

Upcoming Ticket Booth Move

During the festival our ticket booth will be moving to the Recreation Complex located 5001 Joyce Ave and will be open the following days/hours.

Saturday June 22 – 6:00 PM

PRISMA on the Beach

“Cultural Connections”

Venue: Willingdon Beach, 4845 Marine Ave, Powell River

Food vendors open at 5:00 PM

A free, family-friendly concert showcasing highlights from PRISMA’s 2024 repertoire. This year PRISMA on the Beach will include music from Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) and Gabriel's Oboe from The Mission (1986). Blankets and lawn chairs encouraged!

Featuring

Tla’amin Singers & Drummers

PRISMA Festival Orchestra

Arthur Arnold, Conductor

Máté Szücs, Viola

Pauline Oostenrijk, Oboe 

Thursday June 27 – 7:30 PM

Chamber Music Concert

“Transatlantic Tones – Two Muses and a Maestro”

Jan Koetsier – Metamorphoses on a Theme from ‘The Moldau’ for Harp and Brass Quintet

Amy Beach – Pastorale for Woodwind Quintet

Jan Koetsier – Unterkagner Ländler for Violin and Tuba

Amy Beach – Piano Quintet in F-Sharp minor

-Intermission-

Louise Farrenc – Nonet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, bass

      PRISMA Guest Artists and Select Students

Read about the repertoire and purchase tickets here!

Friday June 28 – 7:30 PM & Saturday June 29 – 1:30 PM

Symphony Concert 2

“Stars Rising to Mahler's Majesty”

Tobin Stokes – Just Keep Paddling

Concerto Competition Finals

-Intermission-

Mahler – Symphony No. 5

      Soloists – Finalists of PRISMA’s Concerto Competition 2024

      PRISMA Festival Orchestra – Arthur Arnold, Conductor

Read about the repertoire and purchase tickets here!

Meet Our Student Ensemble In Residence

The LIRONIMA QUARTET is a young string ensemble formed in 2023. The members

of the quartet are from four different countries and they are based in Vienna, Austria.

As a chamber music group the Lironima Quartet studies at the University of Music in

Vienna in the class of Prof. Peter Schuhmayer (Artis Quartet) and they also study a

master program Chamber music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz

with Alexander Pavlovsky (Jerusalem Quartet).

This year they performed at the “Chamber Music Days in Graz” festival in Austria,

where they also had a masterclass with members of the Marmen Quartet. In spring

2024 they were invited to perform the Beethoven Quartet no. 6, op. 18 at the festival of

Music Science “Spiegelungen” in Graz.

This group of international artists based in Vienna, combining their cultures and sharing

the passion for music is building their repertoire from Viennese Classics to Romantic

and Modern genres.

PRISMA alumna Maya Kilburn

On Thursday, June 20, Maya Kilburn, PRISMA’s 2023 Concerto Competition winner, will be returning to PRISMA to take centre stage as soloist in Mozart’s “Violin Concerto no. 5” with the PRISMA Festival Orchestra under the baton of artistic director and co-founder Arthur Arnold for the Grand Opening Concert – “Ice, Silk and Turkish Delight”.

Concerto Competition Format Change

This year, musicians will compete in two categories: Strings (violin, viola, cello, double bass, and harp); and Others (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, trombone, and percussion.) Both categories will have a winner who will be a soloist with the PRISMA Festival Orchestra during the final two concerts on June 28 and 29. The winner from each category will receive a prize of $1,000 CAD and will be invited back to next year’s PRISMA on a full scholarship. The winner of the Audience Favourite Award – chosen with your help – will receive a prize of $500 CAD.

Car Alarm Symphony!

PRISMA Artistic Director Arthur Arnold conducted a symphony of cacophony aboard a sailing of long-time PRISMA sponsor BC Ferries for this hilarious public service announcement to please leave your car alarm off when traveling aboard their vessels.

We look forward to seeing everyone on the Sunshine Coast this June 17-29 and are grateful for presenting sponsor BC Ferries for enabling our guest artists, students, and patrons to access remote Powell River.

Watch the video HERE

Look who linked up in London recently!

Renowned violinist, conductor, and arranger Dmitry Sitkovetsky [right, second from back] and his wife, Susan [right, back]; longtime PRISMA supporters Herb Auerbach [right, second from front] and Ann Cowan-Buitenhuis [left, back]; violinist Beatrix Lovejoy [left, second from back] and cellist Ben Chappell [left, front] from the Britten Sinfonia; and PRISMA artistic director Arthur Arnold [right, front] and finance director Kim Stokes [left, second from front].

What an incredible gathering this must have been, filled with a shared passion for music and the arts!

A Piece of History

The Patricia Theatre donated seats for use in the soon-to-be-established PRISMA Arts Hub, which were moved by a team of volunteers. A big thank you to the Patricia Theatre and all our volunteers! Fun fact: Before receiving their 'second act' at the Patricia in 2009, these seats were installed at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver – home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (our education partner for this year's PRISMA Academy, and host of The Path Forward.)

PRISMA 2024 Merch

Shirts and water bottles have arrived at the PRISMA office! This year we designed a typography based graphic featuring the instruments of the PRISMA Festival Orchestra. Red (Heather Cardinal) shirts and blue bottles will be available for sale at the festival and limited edition gold shirts will be given to volunteers.

Marcus Goddard - Trumpet

Marcus Goddard has enjoyed a nearly 20-year tenure as Associate Principal Trumpet with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Tenures as Acting Principal Trumpet of the VSO between 2004 and 2005 saw Marcus perform on Grammy and Juno Award-winning recordings. Marcus has been a member of the Turning Point Ensemble since its establishment and also frequently performs and records with the Aventa Ensemble, Vancouver Opera, Standing Wave, and on film recordings with the Vancouver Film Orchestra. Before winning his position with the VSO, Marcus served as Principal Trumpet of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in Spain.

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Andrew Poirier - Trombone

Andrew Poirier is currently Acting Principal Trombone of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He is also a founding member of the touring Canadian Trombone Quintet iTromboni as well as a founding member and ensemble manager of the Vancouver Brass Orchestra. Other great musical outlets are performing with the Arts Club Theater Company, the Vancouver Film Orchestra and the West Coast Big Band. Andrew is an avid arranger and transcriber of music for brass, with many works published, performed and recorded around the world. He began his musical studies in the Salvation Army as a child in Newfoundland before earning degrees from the University of British Columbia and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

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Gordon Cherry - Trombone

Gordon Cherry was Principal Trombonist of the Vancouver Symphony and the CBC Vancouver Radio Orchestra from 1974 to 2009. Previously, he performed in the same capacity with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and has been a featured soloist with several major North American orchestras and ensembles and has played on many film and TV recordings. As an educator, he served on the Faculty at the University of British Columbia School of Music from 1975 to 2007, graduating many students to prominent positions in orchestras and educational institutions across North America. Gordon graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 1971. Studies at the Royal Conservatory in his hometown of Toronto and four years in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada added a strong background to his early training. Gordon is also a world-renowned publisher of high-quality music for brass, with over 340 works in his Cherry Classics Music catalog.

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Paul Beauchesne - Tuba

Paul Beauchesne enjoys a multifaceted career as Principal Tuba with the Victoria Symphony and Director of Production for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He has served on faculty at the University of Victoria (UVic) and the Victoria Conservatory of Music and prior to moving to Victoria performed across Canada and the USA with the Foothills Brass Quintet. His first orchestral position was with the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, South Africa, which brought him many unforgettable cultural experiences. Paul has been Section Head of Brass for the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival since 2006, is a Yamaha Performing Artist and was named a UVic Distinguished Alumnus in 2011.

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