by - Kelly Babcock

Where do you go on summer Wednesdays for a little lunch time culture?

Well, if you're in the city of Owen Sound, you make your way to the Georgian Shores United Church for the Noon Hour concert Series show, confident in the knowledge that no matter who is playing, amateur or professional, folk or rock or classically trained, culture is what you will get.

And unlike many shows that come and go, this one seems to have solved the riddle of endurance.

Last night was the evening finale of their 25th season, and that's a pretty good run. Especially in light of the fact that they are already soliciting acts for season twenty-six.

Last night's finale was opened by a quintet of musicians whose efforts may have made some of us forget to breathe for some moments. Rob Tite on clarinet, Eric Fujita and Heng Han Hou on violins, Maxime Despax on viola and Sebastian Ostertag on cello held the room captive as they played Alexander Glazunov's Rêverie to set the bar high enough to challenge all who would follow.

Our own Kati Gleiser answered the call with beautiful piano and voice offerings. Kati played an original composition and then followed that with her rendition of Leonard Cohen's Alexandra Leaving.

Where the Quintet tilled the soil of our minds, Kati's raw and beautiful voice laid open furrows, her words planted seeds, and the power of her piano covered the rows of thought and emotion smoothly in until it seemed the music had always been a part of us.

And then, in true Noon Hour Series style, an assembled orchestra created from the musicians stacked up in the Noon Hour Concert Series cupboard, took the stage and proceeded to accompany a new comer to the series, a Mr. Danny Michel.

Mr. Michel has had some good fortune in his career of late, having played Summerfolk and several well attended concerts in our area. He was also the recipient of the opportunity to accompany Chris Hadfield on the Russian Icebreaker, the Kaptan Khlebnikov, and to interpret that experience for the world in his own way. He chose to make an album of the songs he wrote while on the ship as it made its way through the North West Passage. To cap off Mr. Michel's recent good fortunes, he was invited to play his album with the accompaniment of the Noon Hour Concert Series Orchestra.

The Noon Hour Series will return in the summer of 2019 for its first season of its second 25 years on its way to becoming golden. You will be among the fortunate if you choose to attend these shows.

The series has secured a solid place in our community's culture, and fittingly so.