The Kelowna City Concert Band will team up with a group from the Netherlands later this month to present a concert at the Kelowna Community Theatre aimed at highlighting the city’s relationship with its Dutch sister-city, Veendam
Celebration of Canada and The Netherlands, with special guest, the Veendam Winkler Prins Harmonie, is scheduled for Saturday, April 29, 7 p.m. at the Kelowna Community Theatre.
The Veendam Winkler Prins Harmonie, a community band made up of high school students and adults from Veendam, will be in Kelowna from April 27 to 30 as part of a six-city tour of B.C. and Alberta. The tour marks Canada’s Sesquicentennial, or 150th birthday, the band’s 40th anniversary, and the 37-year of the sister-city relationship between Kelowna and Veendam.
The band has a longstanding relationship with what was KLO Secondary School, and now with KLO Middle School, going back more than 20 years starting with the first reciprocal band exchange in 1995. and now Since then, there have been continuing regular student cultural exchanges.
In 2016, Winkler Prins students visited Kelowna and in 2018 KLO Middle School students will visit Veendam to learn more about the historical connection between Kelowna and Veendam, originating with the role played by Kelowna-area troops in the liberation of Holland in 1945.
The Kelowna City Concert Band has its own long history to celebrate. The band was formed in 1894 and pre-dates the City of Kelowna by 19 years. All musicians—students and adults of all ages—are welcome to join the historic group.
Tickets for the special one-night-only concert April 29 cost $10 for students, $15 for seniors 65 and older and $20 for adults. They are available at Kelowna Tickets and, if available, will also be available the door.