Friday April 2 @ 7:30
VIRGINIA SPARVIER-WELLS TRIO
South Okanagan Concert Series
Presented by Venables Theatre

Vee is an Alberta-based Cree, multi-disciplinary artist form Cowessess FN (Sk). She interweaves land, Indigenous identity, history, and language throughout her dance and music creation/performance practice. A classically trained flutist, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University. Her work fuses together traditional language and dance with her own contemporary experiences as an Indigenous woman and Two-Spirit person. Her most recent album Prairie Dusk evokes the sounds and stories of the prairies and includes commissioned work as well as new originals. This album won YYC Music Classical Album of the Year 2024 and Global music awards 2024. This is a follow-up album to her award winning first Indigenous classical album Incandescent Tales (2021). A 2022 and 2023 Western Canadian Music Awards Nominee, and 2025 Juno Nomination (Classical Large Ensemble album) her musical, composition, and soundscape work focuses on land-based creation and ideas of connection, disconnection, and home. "Too Good; That MAY Be", an
immersive soundscape performance was shown at the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg as part of "The 60's Scoop; A Place Between" in 2017. Her compositions include Muskwa's Mountain Home (2021), Inni (2018) and soundscapes including beguiling (the)the land (2020). Jessica currently resides in Cochrane, Alberta, where she works for the City of Calgary as Curator of Indigenous Art. She is also co-founder and co-director Wild Mint Arts,
an Indigenous arts company and is a Laureate of the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEALIndigenous Art Awards (2017).

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Connor Chee is a Diné (Navajo) composer and pianist known for blending Western classical music with the rich cultural heritage of the Navajo people. His compositions often draw inspiration from traditional Navajo stories and beliefs, creating a powerful and evocative sound that speaks to both his heritage and his classical training. Connor is dedicated to music education and cultural preservation, inspiring the next generation of musicians. Chee made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 12 after winning a gold medal in the World Piano Competition and is a graduate of both the Eastman School of Music and the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Chee’s work has earned him national acclaim, including performances on NPR’s Performance Today and a commission from Your Classical MPR for his tribute to the Navajo Code Talkers, Unbroken. Chee has released five studio albums, and a popular collection of Music Videos available on YouTube. His latest album, Across the Desert: The Long Walk Home, honors the resilience of the Navajo people and the journey back to their ancestral lands. 

 

Holly Bhattacharya was born in Durham, U.K. to two musician parents and she began leaning the violin at the age of four. She was a pupil at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and later studied at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Richard Deakin, Wen Zhou Li and Christopher Rowland (chamber music). Her college
quartet performed regularly throughout the U.K. and won the Hirsch Prize for Chamber Music in 2005. She toured Europe and Kasakhstan as a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, with whom she played for four years. Since graduating from college, Holly has enjoyed a varied career, spanning orchestral, chamber, theatre and commercial music as well as teaching, coaching and invigilating for music competitions. She has been a regular player with many of the UK’s top orchestras including the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Holly also performed as part of the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival (Maine, USA) and MusicaRiva Festival (Lake Garda, Italy) Theatre work has included almost eight years of performances with The Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End, (U.K.) Quadraphenia on tour, Thursford Christmas Spectacular and The Independent Opera Co. (Old Vic Theatre, London) She also worked regularly at Glyndebourne Theatre and took part in several education projects and workshops. Pop work has seen Holly record and perform with the likes of Take That, Jarvis Cocker, Gorillaz, Mike Oldfield, Neneh Cherry, De La Soul, Florence and the Machine and Kylie Minogue. Chamber
music has taken Holly to the International Chamber Festival of Music in Alcala, (Spain) and all around the Mediterranean and Norwegian Fjords as a guest entertainer for SAGA cruises. She has led workshops at Lancing College and BHASVIC, Brighton, as well as regular concerts with Ensemble Reza around the South of England. Holly taught violin for four years at Brighton College (UK Independent School of the Decade) and was a judge for the music
competitions at Hurstpierpoint College, Worth School and St. John’s, Leatherhead. Holly is enjoying making Canada her new home and already has a busy class of violin and piano students. She loves performing and is looking forward to more concerts and collaborations in the future.  

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Part of the South Okanagan Concert Series

Friday October 16 - Collage Trad

Sunday November 15 - All the Madmen

Thursday January 21 - Aurora Piano Trio

Friday April 2 - Virginia Sparvier-Wells Trio