Events

We have special events and fundraisers happening on a regular basis. For reservations for any upcoming event, Call 613-392-9212.

Please send an email to oldchurch@bonisteel.com if you'd like to be on our invitation list to be notified of upcoming events at the church.

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May 6th 2PM

MusiQuinte Teaching Studio presents its sixth annual "Play-a-Thon" , a fund-raiser for Quinte Symphony.

What's a 'play-a-thon'? An ANY-a-thon is an endurance event designed to raise money for a worthy cause. In this case, it is an event on behalf of Quinte Symphony. Music students sign up sponsors and ask for a donation. On return, their responsibility is to play their instrument for one hour in front of at least five people.     

This event gives the student the chance to practice up and hone their musical skills for up-coming Music Festivals, school talent shows and year-end recitals. Playing before an audience, even a small one, develops the student's stage presence and aids in building confidence and self-esteem. Music isn't a private art - it is meant to be shared.     

Each of these students is a potential member of your community orchestra.      If you are a music student or performer and would like to do the play-a-thon yourself, or you are a sponsor looking for a very worthy cause to donate to, please call Linda at 613-967-3942 for information on how you can participate.     

This year the string group "Melodium" will put on an hour of merry music-making as part of their play-a-thon at the Old Church Theatre on Sunday May 6th at 2:00 pm. Everyone is welcome. Please make a donation to Quinte Symphony. Your support is greatly appreciated. 

Past Events

 

Home For Christmas

This year, something a different was held for 6th annual Home for Christmas, December 3, 2011 . We had 8 storytellers, including three who read their original work, and others who read their own personal favourites.

Mystery writer Therese Greenwood returned this
year with award winning colleague Peter Sellers. We are happy to have Reverend Hal
Wilson, Roy Bonisteel as well as CBC's Amanda
Putz return this Christmas . New to our “reader's stage” was Olive Wilson, Linda Minty, who many of you know from The Quinte Symphony, and Brian Weston,
who many of you know from the Old Church Theatre!

 

Neil Simon's

The Sunshine Boys

Brian Weston and Roy Bonisteel are The Sunshine Boys! Along with actor Richard Turtle and sound engineer Andy Thompson we are thrilled to bring this classic comedy play to our stage.

Seventh Town - Celtic Music Night

This acoustic trio, based in Prince Edward County brings guitar, fiddle and snug harmonies to the stage to perform a dynamic repertoire of traditional and contemporary folk songs, haunting airs, and sea shanties interspersed with toetapping Celtic jigs and reels.

Singer and guitarist, Martin Smit, founding member of the Scottish folk group, Killiecrankie, delights audiences with his rich vocals and quick wit. Martin is joined on fiddle by Meghan Balogh, a classically-trained musician turned fiddle player. Trisha Elliott accompanies Martin and Meghan on vocals.

Have a look and a listen at:
http://www.myspace.com/seventhtown

Railroad Ties: Life and Death and The CPR.

A play by Richard Turtle.

Railway Ties is a one-man show that takes the audience back to Canada's west at the beginning of the 20th Century when trains replaced stagecoaches and soon became the preferred target of some of North America's most notorious outlaws.

Read all the details at: www.shieldmedia.ca

Written and directed by Richard Turtle.
Featuring actor Kelsey Powell.

Bluegrass Music and more with

“The Swingbags”. This former trio is now a foursome with the addition of Laurie Bos, the latest member handling the lead vocals.  The band plays an eclectic mix of Bluegrass, Celtic and Country styles. Perry Prescott will feature his 5 string banjo for some Bluegrass tunes while Andy McIntosh's mandolin will win our wee hearts with Celtic flavour. The band's Country gentleman, Don Chambers will favour us with his electric guitar. They're a generous lot though, what with Don and Andy swapping instruments and musical styles depending on the song, and all chip in on vocals. But wait! There's more!  The band will also play some great old time Rock and Roll and classics like Gordon Lightfoot and the Eagles.

"Unplugged" for Earth Hour"

We're turning off the lights, gathering around the fire, and enjoying some "unplugged" music by candle light.
On March 28th people around the globe will be turning off their lights. Earth Hour 2009 aims to reach more than one billion people in 1000 cities around the world, inviting communities, business and governments to switch off lights for one hour. At the Old Church, we will be taking donations for The Word Wildlife Fund as admission to our "unplugged" folk/blues music with Peter Snell, Joe Callahan and just maybe a few friends joining in as well.

Have a look at WWF website: http://wwf.ca/earthhour

From earthhour.org:

"This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world's first global election, between Earth and global warming. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote - Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009".

Denise Ferguson's Christmas musical "Emmanuel"

Denise brought her collection of original and classic Christmas music to the Old Church accompanied by Andy Thompson and Andrew Affleck, top notch, award winning musicians.

Denise has the voice of an angel and is a virtuoso on the keyboards. She even played the Celtic harp! It was as beautiful, candlelit afternoon for to prepare for Christmas.

Our inaugural musical event of the fall season was The Wakami Wailers who put on a great show of legendary logging tunes and stories from the days of Canada 's early lumber days. The band dressed in costume and looked every bit the "White Pine Loggers" of old. One of regulars will be sorry he missed the show as he had some real life logging tales of his own working in the logging business in northern Ontario . He has included some of those experiences in his book of memoirs.. more on that later!

A Sunday afternoon reading of the play by Richard Turtle, Accidental Outlaw: The Innocence of Lewis Colquhoun.

Our readers include, Roy Bonisteel, Dr. Hal Wilson, Olive Wilson, Andy Thompson, Brett Weston, and more....
We were delighted to have Kelli Trottier and the Mushy Peas at Johnstown. Kelli is an internationally renowned artist who has been a fiddler since the age of nine and step dancer since the age of five and is the nominee and recipient of many music awards. Our guests LOVED the fantastic show they put on for us.

http://www.kellitrottier.com


Matt Ray and Tania Verbeke played for our Day-Before-Mother's Day Jazz and Blues night.

Matt and Tania are a talented guitar/vocal duo from the Stirling area. They perform music made popular by Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Nancy Wilson, and Nora Jones to name a few. Hors d'oeuvers, refreshments, beautiful singing and really fine guitar playing made this special night at the old church.

Our audiences loved Burying the Hangman a play written and performed by local playwright Richard Turtle is the story of executioner Arthur Ellis who was said to have conducted more than 600 hangings around the world before his long career ended in tatters in 1935 after nearly 30 years in Canada . "It's not just about Arthur Ellis," says Turtle, "because capital punishment isn't just about the executioner. There's a lot more to it than that." And he says that while we have no death penalty in Canada today, the issue remains front page news. "Ask Steven Truscott if this is something we should just forget about."

Joining Richard for the production was well-known musician and recording engineer Andy Thompson who provided provide the musical score.

"I couldn't have found better people to work with," says Turtle, "and it makes me feel that we've got an outstanding show."

Gregory Hoskins and Company - We had a great night on the 18 th of October. For those of you who attended, thanks for coming and we know you had a great time. Gregory Hoskins, Gary Craig and Kurt Swinghammer are musicians of the first magnitude. Their performance here last week proved it. And we got a recording engineer of the first magnitude, Andy Thompson, to create a CD of the event. It's gratifying that this kind of talent is attracted to the terrific energy that our venue produces. Time after time performers tell us that this place has something special. We also had a full house to enjoy the show. If you would like to obtain a copy of this CD please contact us and we'll let you know when it comes available.

To get any of Gregory's already available CDs and to see where you can see the band play next go to: http://www.gregoryhoskins.com

Andy Thompson, Denise Ferguson and Roy Bonisteel fused their talents together to bring us an evening of poetry, music with Roy's stories of days gone by. Denise truly has the voice of an angel and Andy's improv piano interpretations filled the room with the memories of the sights and sounds of autumn.

Norman Liota - Originally trained as a classical guitarist, Norman’s nimble fingers cover an expanse of open tunings, cascading harmonics and stunning techniques. His music “..will hold your attention like it hasn’t been held in a long time … through one great song after another.” (Hartland Observer, NB)
http://www.normanliota.com

Magic at the old church! A wonderful blend of cabaret, stage artistry and stand-up comedy, Evans & Evans are masters at their craft of entertainment. With a little something for everyone and whole lot for everybody, this was one magic act that pleases our audience of all ages. Our thanks to Pat and Rob for their generousity and for a great show. http://www.evansandevans.ca/

Gregory Hoskins - A gifted Canadian singer songwriter accompanied by percussionist Gary Craig put an an excellent show of Gregory's original material.
http://www.gregoryhoskins.com
Thanks to Quinte Guitar Association for bringing them in.


”Home For Christmas” on Dec 9th was a Christmas Reading with authors Therese Greenwood, Tanya Huff and Roy Bonisteel. A 20 foot Christmas tree, hot apple cider, and live music with Louise Ford and Ron Nicholas made this event really special.
Click HERE to read about Therese
Click HERE to read about Tanya

Hughes and Curtis – Delighted an appreciative audience with their mix of original, traditional and contemporary folk music on Oct 27th.
Click HERE to visit Hughes and Curtis's web site.

Harris Tweed - Sounds from the British Isles by the singing trio was held on June 29th.
Click HERE to visit Harris Tweed's web site.

A Spring Reading with Roy Bonisteel and musician Dave Curtus was held on May 13th.
Click HERE to read a review (Courtesy of The Community Press)
Click HERE to see Dave's website