In Performance
Ann, a member of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, was honoured to attend the unveiling of her STARWALK sidewalk plaque on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. Fellow STARWALK honourees include Bryan Adams, Michael Buble’, Diana Krall and Sarah McLachlan.
From one-woman shows to full orchestral accompaniment, Ann has done the full performance spectrum. Wherever she appears, something similar occurs. People take their seats. The lights dim. And from the first few notes, her rich voice has them enthralled. People get transported at her concerts. She takes them to deep places within themselves that they have sometimes never explored. It can get emotional. Then she turns it around and people feel like rising up and floating away in delight from the sheer beauty of her music. In a word, her performances are spellbinding.
Over the years Ann has performed onstage or on TV with numerous bright lights in the entertainment world. They include Harry Belafonte, the Chicago Synthesizer-Rhythm Ensemble, Chuck Berry, Leon Bibb, Bruce Cockburn, John Denver, Paul Horn (to whom she was blissfully married), B.B. King, Moe Koffman, Ramsey Lewis, Michel Legrand (who she co-created an album with), Bobby McFerrin, National Arts Centre Orchestra (one of 10 major symphony orchestras she has performed with), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Seals & Crofts, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Weather Report and Josh White.
Two occasions where Ann was particularly honoured to be a featured performer were:
- The XV Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremonies, where she was a featured soloist (one half billion worldwide viewers)
- The Celebration for Peace Concert in honour of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama
Throughout her long, distinguished career, Ann has never lost her deep appreciation, love and respect for the talented team that was there for her in the very beginning.
Here are some of the theatres in North America, Europe and Asia where Ann has performed.
Theatres
Ann has performed on stages of every size and description throughout the world, (and she is too modest to tell you that she received standing ovations in most of them).
- Alix Goolden Hall Victoria
- Arts Club Theatre Vancouver
- BC Place Vancouver
- Jack Singer Concert Hall Calgary
- Montreal Theatre Montreal
- National Arts Centre Ottawa
- Neptune Theatre Halifax
- Queen Elizabeth Theatre Vancouver
- Royal York Hotel Toronto
- Stratford Festival Theatre Stratford
- Brooks Atkinson Theatre NYC
- Drury Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland
- Kennedy’s Theatre, Play House Square, Cleveland
- Mercer – Hansberry Theatre NYC
- Riviera Theatre Chicago
- Saban Theatre Beverly Hills, LA
- Waikiki Shell Honolulu
- Village Gate Nightclub/Theatre Greenwich Village NYC
- Angkor Phokeethra Resort Cambodia
- Edinburgh Festival
- Findhorn Centre Scotland
- Kiev National Theatre, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
- Lessing Theatre Berlin
- Singapore Repertory Theatre Singapore
- St. Pauli Theater Hamburg
Ann’s performances don’t always happen in traditional venues. Here are some other places where she has performed.
It was fun sitting down with Ann and asking her to recall some of the more unusual places where she has performed. These include a floating stage, a leper colony and a yurt.
- Arts and cultural centres, TV studios, coffee houses…
- Baptisms and birthdays, international conventions, parks and city streets, galleries, law courts, mountain tops and beaches…
- A former air force hangar, workshops, hotels, hospices and hospitals, churches, resorts, creative life centres, cruise liners and sailboats, special communities…
- On the deck of a yurt, houses, community centres, spiritual retreats, weddings and wakes, fundraising benefits, back yards and sidewalks…
- Schools, universities and lifelong learning centres, and on a raft with lights and a sound system.