Romance is in the air as the Palm Court Light Orchestra opens its 29th season with a performance in Duncan Sunday, Oct. 18.
Conductor Charles Job said the group’s offerings this season remind him of the British popular pianist Albert Semprini who used to introduce his BBC Radio series with the words “Old ones, new ones, loved ones, neglected ones”.
The Oct. 18 show, at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre, sees the welcome return of Sidney tenor Sunny Shams, accompanied by his fiancée, Mexican soprano, Shadan Saul Guerrero.
“This is a delightful programme with more than a hint of Andrea Bocelli and Katherine Jenkins,” Job said.
Accompanied by the orchestra, the pair will sing arias and duets from Puccini’s operas Tosca, Gianni Schicchi and Madam Butterfly.
Also included will be Vilja from The Merry Widow, selections from The Student Prince and Rossini’s tarantella La Danza.
The finale will include The Drinking Song from La Traviata and a special arrangement of Armando Manzanero’s Somos Novios (It’s Impossible).
Saul Guerrero has sung with the Vancouver Symphony, at the Bard on the Beach Festival and with UBC Opera and Shams’s engagements include performances in the Czech Republic as well as appearances with the Victoria Symphony and Vancouver City Opera.
The orchestra selections include Arthur Sullivan’s Overture to Patience, Minuet by Edward Elgar and Ernest Tomlinson’s Gaelic Lullaby.
Tomlinson visited Duncan from the UK on two occasions and conducted the Palm Court in a programme of his own music and a tribute to Canadian composer Robert Farnon. He died at age 90 in May 2015.
Also included in the programme will be selections from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella now enjoying a successful revival on Broadway.
Showtime is 2:30 p.m.
Single tickets are $34 each or buy the entire season of three concerts for $90 for adults, $87 for seniors and $33 for students. Call the Cowichan Ticket Centre at 250-748-7529 to book or go online to cowichanpac.ca to order your seats.