Langley music acts on the move

Langley band Derrival has come a long way from the Squamish Valley Music Festival where it won the 2013 Win the Stage contest.

The five-member boys band is now set to launch their latest single and video Original Script on April 25 and will hit the road two days later for their first ever tour.

“It’s been a huge leap from that festival to where we are now,” said drummer Daniel Kozlowski, who’s excited about the prospect of taking their music to a whole new group of fans.

“The tour is a big step for any band. It’s our first tour ever and it’s a pretty big time for us.”

They will be making nine stops throughout Western Canada including gigs in Calgary, Banff, Coleman, Fernie, Golden and Kelowna before coming back to their homecoming show at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver on May 10.

Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Adam Mah is the frontman for the group, Glen Jackson is lead guitarist, Shane Stephenson is on keyboard, Deven Azevedo plays base guitar and Kozlowski is on drums.

“We’ve been together nearly forever,” said Kozlowski, which means six years. Formed in 2009, Derrival is composed of members just barely out of high school. Their music is alternative indie rock, which blends older artists with newer sounds, and their lyrics link to local issues and personal experiences, he explained.

They will kick off their tour with a show at the Queensborough Community Centre in New Westminster on April 27.

For more on the band or the tour go to www.facebook.com/Derrival.

Classic Kafka

Soprano Stacie Dunlop and violinist Andrea Neumann take the stage at Langley Community Music School’s next Concerts Café Classico on Sunday, April 13 to present the provocative and powerful work, Kafka Fragments.

Pre-concert coffee and commentary by LCMS artistic director Elizabeth Bergmann is at 3 p.m. followed by the concert at 4 p.m.

“I bought the score for Kafka Fragments many years back, and put them away knowing that one day, with the right person, I would learn to perform these,” said Dunlop. “I knew this would be the perfect project for us as soon as I met Andrea. It’s a definite love/hate relationship working on this piece. I love the virtuosity, the poetry, the microscopic intensity needed to dissect the work, and the same intensity to put it back together again – but it’s also these things that make it such a challenging work. It’s been worth the many hours of practice that has been put into bringing this pretty amazing work to life.”

Kafka Fragments by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag is a set of 40 miniatures that were inspired by the diaries, letters and notebooks of Franz Kafka.

“It’s a very special work, there’s nothing quite like it in the repertoire for either voice or violin,” said Dunlop.

“It’s amazing to be the performer of a new work and to bring to life notes on the page for the first time, or in the case of Kafka Fragments, to bring an old work that has never been heard before to many communities – it’s a must see for local audiences,” she added.

Tickets are $15/adults, $13/seniors and $10/students. Call 604-534-2848 or visit www.langleymusic.com   to purchase tickets online. The Rose Gellert Hall is located at 4899 207 St.

KPU with VSO and Vancouver Opera

The Kwantlen Polytechnic University chorus will be accompanied by members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver Opera Orchestra in concert on Friday, April 11 in Richmond.

Mozart: Joy and Sorrow will feature the KPU chorus, comprised of Langley music students, faculty, staff and community members and they will perform three Mozart works with VOO concertmaster Mark Ferris; Dale Throness, KPU voice faculty member; Tom Shorthouse, KPU brass instructor and principal trumpet with the VOO; and Caroline Markos, a KPU music alumna, and personal assistant to VSO conductor Bramwell Tovey.

“The feature work, Mozart’s Requiem, is a powerful and dramatic work that will bring together the chorus, KPU alumni returning as soloists and a professional orchestra,” said Gail Suderman, director of voice and choral studies at KPU.

“The opportunity for KPU music students to perform with a professional orchestra serves as an exciting training ground. It gives them a chance to rehearse and perform at a standard of excellence found in the professional concert halls of Vancouver and beyond.”

The event will feature three Mozart works: Requiem K. 626, Exsultate Jubilate K. 165 and Piano Concerto K. 467 (Andante).

The concert will be held at Fraserview Church in Richmond at 7:30 p.m. April 11.

Tickets are $15/students and seniors; $20/adults. and can be purchased online at brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006.