Christian Singer, Orchestra Plan Christmas Show, Tour
Winnipeg Free Press
Christian singer, orchestra plan Christmas show, tour
February 21st, 2007
By Morley Walker
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra audiences can expect the second coming of Steve Bell next Christmas. The local singer-songwriter, a cult hero among Christian audiences, enjoyed a breakthrough last November when his debut performance with the WSO sold out the Centennial Concert Hall and drew unqualified raves.
Both he and the orchestra hope to repeat that success, only multiplying it like those proverbial loaves and fisher.
The WSO has booked Bell for a three-night Christmas Pops program Dec. 14-16. As well, it is taking him as its headliner on the bus for a fall tour to Brandon, Portage, Steinbach and Winkler.
“Sometimes these opportunities come along to move up a level,” said Dave Zeglinski, Bell’s longtime manager and producer. “You have to grab them while they’re there.”
Bell and Zeglinski have got their regular pianist, Michael Janzen, who wrote the charts for last year’s program, working on six new arrangements from Bell’s 1995 Christmas album, A Feast Of Seasons.
They are also presenting concerts next fall in Calgary, Edmonton, Thunder Bay and Hamilton.
In all cases they’re hiring the city’s orchestra and booking the concert halls themselves.
The financial risk is nothing to sneeze at. Bell says the 80-100 dates he normally plays cost $2000 or so to stage. An orchestra concert costs $35,000.
“We’re used to our audiences buying $15 tickets,” Bell says. “We weren’t sure (until last November) they’d be willing to pay $50.”
There’s even more. Bell and Zeglinski are hiring the WSO this spring to record an album of the 13 songs they did in November. Veteran producer Dan Donahue will be at the control board. The disc, Bell’s 13th since 1988, is slated for fall release.
Orchestra officials would not confirm the Bell concerts for fear of stealing the thunder from their 2007-2008 season launch campaign, slated to begin next month.
Bell says he will use his orchestra tour to help promote the documentary film he made in Ethiopia this winter with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.