Sunday, April 14th, 2:00 PM Winds and Strings, a Classical Concert featuring the Shifting Winds and the Lakeside String Ensemble 

The Shifting Winds

In 2018 a group of Slocan Valley women formed a woodwind quintet. Since they were all women, they called themselves The Slocan Valley Queen-tet. Later that year, after numerous shifts in personnel, they decided that The Shifting Winds described the group better. This was a good thing since men began joining the group in 2020.The group performed a number of times at various venues in the Slocan Valley including The Vallican Whole, Silverton Memorial Hall, and several house concerts until Covid shut them down in 2020. The group was able to practice a few times during 2020, but wasn’t able to really get going again until 2021, again with new personnel.Since then, the group has played at the Slocan Legion, the Pavillion in New Denver, The Vallican Whole, Mountain Lake Seniors Community, and Nelson Jubilee Manor.The current Shifting Winds musicians include Jane Butler on flute, Ron Butler on flugelhorn, Tia Leschke on French horn, Gail Elder on Euphonium, and David Stevenson on bass clarinet.

The Lakeside String Ensemble is an eclectic mix of professional and amateur string musicians that was formed in 2022 following an engaging performance of the Corelli Christmas Concerto at the Slocan Lake Arts Centre “Winter Fest”. The six chamber musicians live along the Slocan Lake and include:

Martine den Bok, soloist, current principal 2nd violinist for Okanagan Symphony and principal violist for the Symphony of the Kootenays, co-founding member of local Kootenay bands Freya, Vanir and Klezmeridian.Irene Whifield, currently the principal 2nd violinist with the Brandenburg Orchestra in Kamloops. She started Fiddle Dee Dee and Eldorado Hoedown in New Denver. Danika Skye Hammond, violinist and lifelong Suzuki player. Miranda Hughes, plays viola and violin, is co-founder of the Suzuki Valhalla Institute of New Denver, and currently plays as a violist with the Symphony of the Kootenays.  Heather Huether, cellist, teacher, chamber musician and founder of the Valhalla Fine Arts Society and Valhalla Summer School of Music in Silverton.  Sue Mistretta, amateur cellist and co-founder of Mountainside Chamber Music in Nelson.