Happy New Year! Welcome back to arts and culture news in Orillia, after a short holiday break.
Surprisingly, Orillia arts and culture organizations are right back at it, after an extremely brief hiatus. It used to be you could count on January to have not much going on at all, but this is no longer the case. If you are looking to beat the January blahs, Orillia has you covered. Let’s take a peek.
This Friday and Saturday, the Banff Mountain Film Festival is coming to the Orillia Opera House. That’s the good news. The bad news is, it is likely sold out. But, keep an eye out for folks posting tickets they can’t use on Facebook.
This event is one that has not happed for three years due to COVID, so it will be exciting to see it back in town. Some of the best and most awe-inspiring shorter films from the Banff Mountain Film Fest take to the road and are brought to Orillia with host Sojourn Outdoors in Barrie.
There will be mind-blowing adventure films, lots of giveaways, and a lot of energy in the room. It will be a fun night, so I hope you got a ticket.
The Orillia Museum of Art and History (OMAH) has its first History Speakers Series of 2023 on Wed. Jan. 18. At 7 p.m. speaker Dave Town will join to talk about his latest book, The Black Swamp Gang, and that infamous time in local history when this nasty group ruled the roost. This is a free event, and you can sign up to get the Zoom link by going here.
The Met in HD is back in town, at the Orillia Galaxy Theatre on selected dates throughout the year. Jan. 14, Girodano’s Fedora is playing, although they don’t have the showtime up yet.
“Giordano’s exhilarating drama Fedora returns to the Met for the first time in 25 years, starring soprano Sonya Yoncheva in the title role of the 19th-century princess who falls in love with her fiancé’s murderer, Count Loris, sung by tenor Piotr Beczala," the website explains.
"Soprano Rosa Feola is the Countess Olga, Fedora’s confidante, and baritone Artur Rucinski is the diplomat De Siriex. Marco Armiliato conducts David McVicar’s intricate production, with a fixed set that unfolds to reveal the opera’s settings: a palace in St. Petersburg, a fashionable Parisian salon, and a picturesque villa in the Swiss Alps.”
Sounds awesome, so click here to get time and tickets.
The Orillia Community Children’s Choir, conducted by Julia Johnston, is open for new members. Kiddos have to be ages 8 to 13 years, and you can find out all the details here.
Julia Johnston is also holding auditions for the show, James and the Giant Peach, through her Express Yourself group. Auditions are Jan. 14 at 10:30 a.m. at St. James' Anglican Church, and the show is in the spring. For lots more information, click here.
Creative Nomad Studios has many programs starting in January, including small dog socials, Monday nights starting next week; Get Started on Etsy on Jan. 17; a creative kids club starting Jan. 18; and lots more. To check them all out and get registered, click here.
That’s all for now, but check back next week for more January events in Orillia.
If you have arts news, send it to [email protected] by Tuesday at noon to be included.
