I’m thrilled to play with my pals, @ PAL next Monday. No, this is not an April Fool’s joke! I really am PLAYING with Don’s wonderful band, wonderful colleagues from earlier times, Kerry Galloway, Miles Black, Buff Allen and Dave Say. They all played in Holly Burke and The Naturals at some point. What a cool reunion this will be! and it’s a free concert! I swear I’m not pulling your leg 😉 See you there. 6:30 pm.
581 Cardero St. 8th floor 🙂
Hello Flute Fans! I’ll be playing in the Main Hall of the West Vancouver Memorial library from 2-3 pm. this Monday December 18, that is. Come and browse and flip magazine pages while I pour my heart out flute-wise…
It’s not set up for a Concert – more for a pleasant flute hang. Very casual and a bit of a scholarly vibe you know…lovely!
You’re invited! and a Merry ’tis the Season to All!
Dear Fine Folk… you are warmly invited to come on a Dream Ride with us September 4, 4pm @ St. Andrews Wesley Church in Vancouver.
Can’t believe eight years have passed since I bounced off the end of my mother’s bed and into a very different head space!
All was not lost though. Beautiful new music has come to the surface, twenty pieces for solo piano and new project called Dream Ride. Serendipitous events that have urged us forward in surprising ways, like finding baritone Pablo Romero in the forest.
Featuring Linda Lee Thomas, renowned VSO pianist, also known as the “Queen of Tango”. Dream Ride explores the Tango idiom while venturing into realms of pure lyric beauty.
St. Andrews Wesley Church (Burrard and Nelson) Vancouver. By Donation *no upward limit! free parking under the church.
Here’s a video taste of what you’re in for…
On the subject of heads…here’s another cool thing I stumbled upon in the forest.
This amazing carving known as “Twin Spirits” is just off of Rawlings trail in Stanley Park, not far from Second Beach.
The Parks Board in their greater wisdom do not “acknowledge” this remarkable creation because the artist failed to go through their application process. Hey maybe the artist didn’t know where the office was – didn’t have a computer – was living in the park? I’m just so glad this carver went ahead with their vision, their inspiration for all the people to enjoy.
Thank you, Park Banksy. Love to know who you are and meet you one day ❤️
Yes, it’ll be the first public performance of Two Eagles ~1000 hours later…or is it ten thousand hours later…Bill has meticulously finished the band arrangement of ‘Two Eagles.’ Can’t wait to hear it played by Bill’s stellar band The Bill Runge Quintet. Miles Black on piano, Bernie Arai on drums, André Lachance on bass and Nick Apivor on the magical vibes. It was a full circle type of experience with this tune. It began on a cold clear February day when I spied two magnificent eagles in the large evergreen just off my building. They were there for hours…just hanging out. I went to the piano and found a figure I liked, and a couple of potential places to go and Two Eagles was born (I kept running back and forth from the piano to the window to the window to see if they were still there.) Last week, Bill was completing the full band arrangement and looked out his window to see two glorious eagles soaring around his building. “We’re not changing the name!” said Bill.
Listen to an excerpt of “Two Eagles”!
Can’t help but get a little excited about stepping out onto the new terrain of a new year. The forever hope of things being better. Things will be better, it always feels that way, even this year. So here we are sending some good vibes your way )))))
Your buddies,
Holly and Bill
Hey nice to meet you:) How are you anyway? Tell me everything…
I love seeing that I’ve had visitors like you from around the world. It’s one of the coolest things about having a website.
What would you like to know? I’d love to know about you. We could be pen pals say and share ideas. You might send me
some of your music, I’d love that. Or tell me what it’s like where you are, have you had your covid shot yet and etc. The
weather, the temperature, what it feels like to be you these days, that sort of thing, whatever’s on your mind. Jokes are
great too!
Cheers,
Holly
Yes, two composers walk into a bar…
sporting Bulbous Bouffants…
The bartender says, “Hey you two deadbeats! You haven’t paid your tab from the last time!”
Bill looks the bartender straight in the face and pleads, “but you know we’re both baroque!”
Here she is, Linda Lee Thomas, reigning Queen of our piano project, The Advanced Pianist. Linda and her esteemed husband Jon Washburn live in an ivy covered fairy tale house in Vancouver. There are crystals and tango shoes in the garden out front, and orange wooden steps that lift you up to the orange front door of the ‘Casa de Tango.’ Come inside, and discover Linda’s expansive living room welcoming you with warm reds and oranges, and wherever your eye falls you’ll find out something fascinating about her!
Next week we’ll be completing our twenty-tune audio/video recording at the ‘Casa de Tango.‘ Then we’re onto edits, and publishing and promotion…in a way, this has been a perfect dream to develop during good old Covid diciannove.
Linda Lee Thomas, Principal Pianist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since 1972, was Artistic Director of Masterpiece Music, a hugely successful chamber music series for 17 years. In 2000, she was inducted into the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame for her outstanding contributions to the industry. Her passion is the music and dance of Argentina - the Tango. She is one of Canada’s foremost tango musicians, performing and recording with Argentine bandoneonists Daniel Binelli and Nestor Marconi and with harmonica sensation Franco Luciani. In her latest recording project, Tango Con Fazioli, Linda Lee is putting together two of her favourite things - Tango and Fazioli pianos. For more information, see www.lindaleethomas.com.
What’s in a name? Cole Porter was married to a different Linda Lee Thomas. There’s even a musical about her!
I wanna tell the world how wonderful it is to have such a creative and accomplished partner! These musical flowerings are nourishing for all of us. Like my swirly leafed begonia plant…it’s been in bloom for weeks now! But plant music is tremendously quiet <PPPPP>
Bill’s new Quintet is exciting! dynamic! filled with verve! His writing is peerless and he’s chosen his musical companions well. Come and find out tonight!
Featuring a bucket list of favourite tunes from Weather Report, Steps Ahead, Don Grolnick plus some of Bill’s best original pieces from his recordings. Bernie Arai – drums, Nick Apivor – vibes/perc, Miles Hill – bass & Kristian Alexandrov – piano. Reservations recommended.
Aaaand at Frankie’s too this Saturday:
Are you the type of person that scrolls all the way to the bottom? Well here’s your reward! A sneak preview of this hot new band!
Standing in the echoing expanse that is the atrium in the heart of downtown…
notes float…
quivering quavers… and semi-quavers… and demi-semi-quavers until a trill fills the sonorous soundscape…. and then a saxophone…
deep drone from the trombones… Ellen and Andrews’ auditory ovation to the next wash of sound to gently caress your malleus, incus and stirrup to pure ecstasy!
Will you please join us tomorrow?
2-4 open rehearsal, 5-6 show
SFU Woodwards Atrium (London Drugs)
….here is a harmonious historical recollection of last year’s happening…
Ok – it’s actually the second snow…but it’s SNOW! and it’s still magical and awesome…especially through the eyes of my young Mexican neighbor across the lane who saw snow for the very first time TODAY. He is about four…I didn’t see him try and melt it on his tongue though…I’ll have to tell him about that one…and snow angels, snowballs, skiing and the whole glorious business.
Do you like my little tune?
Let me know!
🙂
Holly
Dearest Friends,
I am writing to you from MacKenzie Beach in Tofino, on the wild west coast of Vancouver Island. It’s cooler here than Vancouver, almost fall! The mornings are foggy and mysterious, the afternoons clear, and every night we have a fire! The finest of fine sands cover my toes… like palest green fairy dust made of moss and seaweeds and ocean floor water magic…
Happily by the fire I sit.
Soot on my hands. Sand on my toes. While Runge works and I play on paper.
I brought us pine cones flecked with sap and garden cuttings of rosemary, oregano, and eucalyptus to add to our evening fire. And how warming it is!
A glass of red wine, a fire, and thou!
hb
Holly Burke Music 