The crooner from Cowichan, tenor Ken Lavigne, plans to take show-goers on a smooth and expressive vocal tour through the season’s classics.
In his only Vancouver Island seasonal performance, Lavigne intends to “pull out all the stops” for his ‘Snowballs and Mistletoe’ concert at the Port Theatre this Friday, Dec. 9.
Joining him on stage will be the Festive Brass quintet, his own rhythm band, and Victoria jazz vocalist Kristina Helene.
Lavigne and Helene have worked together for years and recently collaborated for the single and music video Wild Mountain Thyme, released in September.
Members of Festive Brass also shared the stage with Lavigne earlier this year at Nanaimo’s inaugural Big Band Festival, also in September.
“I’m looking forward to sharing the stage with them again. They’re massively talented fellows and gals, and they’re going to really bring the energy up,” Lavigne said, adding that he always looks to a brass band as being part of that ‘Christmas sound.’
To build a homey and warm Christmas ambience for the evening, the crooner said he plans to talk a bit about the songs beforehand and share some of his own nostalgic and heartwarming seasonal memories.
“Christmas means to me a lot of things: wonderful food with friends and family, and especially that wonderful warm feeling of having hot chocolate and marshmallows. But I think really Christmas to me is seeing those incredible four pillars of the Christmas season being embodied and personified by the people around me: hope, joy, peace and love. And really seeing the generosity of the human spirit just being brought out in people. That’s what I really enjoy most,” Lavigne said.
As the name of the concert suggests, and as is tradition with Lavigne’s winter concerts, the audience can expect an indoor “snowball” fight.
“Both the young, and the young at heart, are encouraged to pick up snowballs – which we will be providing. We generally unleash about 2,300 snowballs out to the audience and say ‘Have at her!’ It’s a lot of fun,” he said.
And although any audience member is fair game in the fight, Lavigne inevitably becomes a popular target.
“It’s all in good fun.”
The ‘Snowballs and Mistletoe’ concert will be held at the Port Theatre on Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.porttheatre.com.
READ MORE: Nanaimo’s first-ever Big Band Festival on its way to the waterfront
mandy.moraes@nanaimobulletin.com
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