Pat Braden Bio
Pat Braden brings to the stage a variety of musical styles, steeped from his early days playing Electric and String Bass with high school concert and big bands, community choral and theatre productions, jazz , blues, rock and country bands, from Blues men to Metis fiddlers, from folk singers to throat singers, on the stage or in the studio. In addition to his Bass skills, he writes, records and performs his music on the Chapman Stick ™, a Guitar/Bass hybrid that expands his contribution to the arrangement of song. Having spent most of his life in the north, his creations are a sonic reflection of the land and of the people, in all of their beauty and extremes. He has released 5 CDs, the latest, a live recording of his 90 minute performance entitled "A Place to Call Home", is a musical / storytelling journey through northern landscapes and northern realities.
Margo Nightingale:
A lifelong chorister, Margo Nightingale began conducting the Yellowknife Choral Society in September, 2000. She has directed the choir's Christmas concerts for many years, as well as a variety of other performances, which include:
• Renaissance: Words and Music from an Elizabethan Age (March 2005)
• African Passage (April 2004) - featuring Afro-centric music with percussion, selections from which were performed again at Yellowknife’s Folk on the Rocks in July 2004
• Handel’s Messiah (December 2003) - featuring local soloists and an 11 piece orchestra with members from Yellowknife and Edmonton
• Love Songs for Spring (May 2003) - featuring Paul Halley’s ‘Love Songs for Springtime’ with tuba soloist Jennifer Walsh
• Faure’s Requiem (June 2002) - with local soloists and a 5-piece chamber group from Yellowknife and Edmonton
Thrilled to share her directorial responsibilities with Shad Turner, she returns to sing with both Aurora Chorealis and the Yellowknife Chamber Choir when she is not directing. Blessed with a supportive family, Margo has also directed the Yellowknife Bike Choir (June 2003) and provided musical direction or assistance in various productions by Kitch’n’Sync, including ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ ‘The Music Man’ and ‘Chicago’ (May 2007).
Carmen Braden:
Carmen Braden began learning music with Yellowknife's Ardith Dean and Bill Gilday. She has performed jazz in combos, big bands and as a soloist, and can also be found recording ice on Great Slave Lake. The soundscape is where Carmen is most happy to listen and perform.
Peter Skinner Bio:
"A noted deltiologist, apophasist, proprioceptionist and baker, Peter is the former (deposed, actually) Mayor of Chumpville, home of the Chumpville Champions (three-time winners of the Tri-State and Lesser Antilles Mixed Softball League) and the Museum of Tentative Decisions. When not plotting his revenge on the Illuminati, Peter broadcasts arcane radio programs from the basement of the Reginald Fessenden Memorial Parking Garage in beautiful downtown Chumpville and passes threats and lawsuits to his attorneys, the firm of Inane, Vacuous and Disjointed. He was once the Spanish ambassador to Turkey, despite speaking neither language, and spent a year with his hand shellacked to the door of a private secretarial college. Peter eats nothing but croquet mallets and albatross eggs, and finds oxygen violently poisonous."
