Performing Arts Lakefield announces our 2026/27 Season of Music
Please Note: All performances take place at Lakefield United Church, 47 Regent St., Lakefield. All shows begin at 3pm Sundays. Doors open at 2pm.
And……..our 26/27 Season Announcement – Presenting 5 distinctive shows from Fall 26 to Spring 27.
Sept 27 Crystal Shawanda
Crystal Shawanda grew up on the Wikwemikong reserve on an island in Ontario, Canada, Her parents raised her on Country music, but it was her oldest brother who introduced her to the blues. He would hang out in the basement cranking Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Etta James, and Crystal would sit at the top of the stairs, straining to hear those soulful sounds. She learned early on, by observing her family, that music was like cheap therapy. That’s what the blues is all about: releasing and healing.
While she was secretly pining to be a blues mama, out on stage it was Patsy and Loretta. She started performing country at six and started getting paid gigs at 10, relentlessly playing every stage she could. Crystal and her dad started taking frequent trips to Nashville when she was 12. She recorded her first album when she was 13 and moved away from home that same year to attend music school. Crystal got restless however, and dropped out at 16 to move to Nashville. She didn’t know anyone but was determined, so she spent days playing where she could and busking in between.
During a chance meeting with a well-respected music executive, Crystal was told, “I just don’t know if Native Americans make sense in country music. I don’t know if fans would be receptive and I wouldn’t even know how to market you.” Crystal tried to take the critique with composure, but would end up moving back home to her reserve and abandoning her dream. Shawanda set out on a dark, self-destructive path, but no matter what, always found herself back in front of the microphone.
She finally came to terms with what was bothering her. “If I was out of tune, I could take voice lessons,” she reflects. “If my song was bad, I could write another. But I couldn’t change the colour of my skin.” So Shawanda moved back to Nashville one more time with a mission to prove him wrong. She paid her dues, playing at Tootsies Orchid Lounge six days a week, and managed to build up a buzz and land a production deal with Scott Hendricks. She was later signed to a record deal with RCA Records by Joe Galante, who had heard Crystal cover B.B. King and Janis Joplin. This venture produced a top 20 song on country radio and the highest selling album by a Native American in BDS history.
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Nov 22 Laila Biali
We are bringing Joni Mitchell & The Canadian Songbook Reimagined. Here is a description, which your team is welcome to tweak:
2026-GRAMMY nominee, multi-award-winning vocalist, pianist, songwriter and national radio host Laila Biali returns to the Lakefield Music Series following her sold-out debut in 2023. Biali’s latest tribute project, Joni Mitchell & the Canadian Songbook Reimagined, features fellow luminaries Kelly Jefferson (sax), George Koller (bass) and Ben Wittman (drums) in a memorable concert experience filled with dynamic covers of our country’s musical icons. Audiences will be treated to fresh takes on a range of Canadian artists from across the decades including Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, k.d. Lang, Bruce Cockburn, Sarah McLachlan and many more, all centred around the heart of this show: Joni Mitchell. Hailed by the Washington Post for her unique ability to “masterfully mix jazz and pop”, Biali interweaves your favourite Canadian classics with playful anecdotes and heartwarming stories.
GEORGE KOLLER is a bassist, producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and promoter of jazz, world and folk music through concerts and his home-grown label ZSAN Records (the zenith of science art and nature). In a wildly diverse and expansive career, touring extensively around the globe, he has worked with Peter Gabriel, Eartha Kitt, Chaka Khan, Eddie Harris, Loreena McKennitt, David Clayton-Thomas, Jim McCarty (The Yardbirds), Ian Tyson, The Shuffle Demons, Ensemble Vivant, John McDermott, Larry Coryell, Karrin Allyson, Phil Woods, Michael McDonald, Carvin Winans, Sonny Stitt, Valdy, Eliana Cuevas, Holly Cole + many others.
He has Performer/Bassist/ credits on over 1600 albums in various genres and Producer credits on at least 250 albums. Awards include the HMV “Fresh Blood” grand prize, National Jazz Awards “Bassist of the Year”, Toronto Star Critics Award and 2 “Porcupine” awards. In addition, he has performed on many JUNO award-nominated and award-winning albums. George plays a variety of instruments on his award-winning debut solo album “Music for Plants, Animals and Humans” and has recorded numerous yoga/meditation/wellness albums. His latest solo album is called “Secret Space Program”. George continues to release digital singles on his ZSAN Records label. George will soon be recording with local talents Rob Phillips and Carling Stephen. zsanrecords.com
BEN WITTMAN, drummer, composer, and producer was raised in the creative and adventuresome atmosphere of Bennington College, Vermont, in the ’60s and ’70s, and moved to New York in 1993, where he continues to combine his love of world rhythms, songwriting, and production. Having reconnected with clarinetist Don Byron, Ben’s playing with Don remains one of his most vital performance outlets. His tenure in New York has also included recording and performing with a diverse range of artists from Sting, Paul Simon, Paula Cole, Laurie Anderson, Jonatha Brooke and Rosanne Cash to Don Byron, Theo Bleckmann and contemporary Celtic artists Eileen Ivers, Solas and Cathie Ryan. Ben is also the husband to Laila Biali. Sorry guys!
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Feb 21 Joe Sealy
JOSEPH (JOE) SEALY (pianist, organist, composer) was born on August 16, 1939 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His early piano studies were with Oscar Peterson’s sister Daisy Peterson Sweeney and Bob Langlois in Montreal, and later with Darwyn Aitken in Toronto. In his early career he played with bands throughout Quebec before moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1967 and a new career phase as Music Director/Consultant on some of the hit CBC-TV shows airing at the time including ‘Music Hop’, ‘Student Showcase’, and ‘Roundabout’. All the while, he continued to gig with all of the up-and-coming jazz players in the Atlantic, play solo piano in hotel lounges, and hold down studio work.
Sealy relocated to Toronto in 1976, playing piano in various jazz rooms and working as Musical Director for a succession of hit home-grown musicals during the ‘80s including ‘Spring Thaw’, ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’’, ‘Indigo’, ‘Lady Day’ ‘More Sweet Reason’, ‘One More Stop’, and ‘Madame Gertrude’. He has accompanied several leading American musicians and performers appearing in Canada including Milt Jackson, Joe Williams, Buddy DeFranco, Sammy Davis Jr., and Sonny Stitt, and in 1979 toured throughout the U.S. with the celebrated ‘Blood, Sweat & Tears’.
In 1997, Sealy completed a 19-city concert tour in follow-up to the release of his JUNO Award-winning CD, “Africville Suite”. Later that year he was featured in a 20-city national tour of Timothy Findlay’s “Piano Man’s Daughter” with Veronica Tennant and Sylvia Tyson. In 1998, The Joe Sealy Quartet toured Western Canada and performed for two weeks throughout Scandinavia. Recently, Sealy served as Music Director for the acclaimed “Tonya Lee Williams Gospel Jubilee” television special, and a CBC Radio ‘Words & Music’ special entitled ‘East Coasting’. For the past several years, he has been the host of a weekly radio show (“Joe Sealy’s Duets”) and currently its’ successor “Joe’s Jazz” on JAZZ.FM91 in Toronto.
Joe Sealy continues to perform, produce, compose, act, and with his Seajam Recordings partner Paul Novotny, release jazz recordings, including 2009’s “Songs”. He produced, arranged and performed on vocalist Colin Hunter’s recent release “Mostly About You”
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Apr 4 Maggie’s Wake
Maggie’s Wake is a dynamic and refreshing band from Southwestern Ontario, Canada, blending the timeless roots of traditional folk with the energy of varied music styles, including jazz, Americana, and classic country. Drawing on their heritage while forging new ground, their sound is both deeply rooted and wholly original. With a passion for celebrating the rich history of folk music in a modern voice, Maggie’s Wake seeks to inspire, uplift, and bring joy to audiences everywhere.
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May 30 Sultans of String
Seven time CFMA winners/3x JUNO nominees Sultans of String are an “energetic and exciting band with talent to burn!” (Maverick Magazine UK). Thrilling audiences with their genre-hopping passport of Celtic reels, Django-jazz, Flamenco and Arabic rhythms, these revved up roots string wizards celebrate musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar, while bass and nyckelharpa lay down unstoppable grooves. Throughout, acoustic strings meet electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound.
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Season’s tickets available now. Single concert tickets go on sale August 1st. Tickets can be purchased at the PAL website, or at the Lakefield United Church one hour before the performance.
http://performingartslakefield.org/tickets/
About PAL: Performing Arts Lakefield (PAL) has been presenting an eclectic selection of world-class entertainment for more than 44 years. This volunteer run organization continues to find the most outstanding performances available to members. We are really excited to offer our-coming season of critically acclaimed classical, jazz, blues and Broadway performers! PAL has become recognized across the province as an active supporter of both the community of Lakefield and the artists who perform at our concerts.
For more information:
Robin Robb: rwrobb@xplornet.com
Season’s tickets available now. Single concert tickets go on sale August 1st. Tickets can be purchased at the PAL website, or at the Lakefield United Church one hour before the performance.
