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Culture

Critics often characterise Calgary as an oil-driven cowboy town, inferior to Edmonton, its provincial rival, in matters of high culture, such as theatre or literature. But cowboy culture is culture nonetheless and in Calgary its roots run deep. The Calgary Stampede dates back as far as 1886 and the event continues to attract thousand of visitors to this most emphatic celebration of all things cowboy. So western is the flavour of Calgary that the city and its surrounding have also been used in the filming of numerous westerns, including Dustin Hoffman's Little Big Man and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven.

Having said that, Calgary also offers a great deal in the way of highbrow culture as well. It has over ten professional theatre companies, staging shows ranging from the traditional to the experimental. Both the Alberta Ballet Company and the Calgary Opera find their home at the Jubilee Auditorium. The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra plays at the Centre for the Performing Arts - a modern arts complex built in 1985 that has five performance spaces. The complex is also home to the Theatre Calgary, as well as a variety of cultural festivals and competitions, including the Calgary International Organ Festival, the Calgary Children's Festival and the Esther Honens Calgary International Piano Competition.

Tickets for most cultural attractions can usually be purchased through Ticketmaster Canada (tel: (403) 777 0000).

Music:
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (tel: (403) 571 0270), offering classical music, popular symphonic music and a children's programme, performs at the Centre for the Performing Arts, 205 Eighth Avenue Southeast. Between September and April, classical music concerts are held at noon at the Central Library (tel: (403) 260 2780), 616 Macleod Trail Southeast. The Calgary Opera (tel: (403) 262 7286) performs at the Jubilee Auditorium, 1415 14th Avenue Northwest.

Theatre:
The Centre for the Performing Arts, 205 Eighth Avenue Southeast, plays an equally important role in theatre. It is home to Theatre Calgary (tel: (403) 299 8888), which offers musical, comic and serious theatre each season, and Alberta Theatre Projects (tel: (403) 294 7402), which offers a programme geared more toward experimental and Canadian works. The Calgary Young People's Theatre (tel: (403) 230 2664), 204 16th Avenue Northwest, caters to children. Theatre in a more informal setting is offered by Lunchbox Theatre (tel: (403) 265 4292), a theatre company begun in 1975, which performs short plays for the lunchtime business crowd at Bow Valley Square, 205 Fifth Avenue Southwest and claims to be the longest-running lunchtime theatre company in the world.

Dance:
The Alberta Ballet Company (tel: (403) 245 4549) offers both contemporary and classical ballet and performs at the Jubilee Auditorium, 1415 14th Avenue Northwest.

Film:
Mainstream cinemas in Calgary are dominated by two companies: Cineplex Odeon and Famous Players. Prime locations in the city centre include Eau Claire Market (tel: (403) 263 3166), Canyon Meadows (tel: (403) 221 2875) and Market Mall (tel: (403) 288 6166). Arthouse and foreign films can be seen at the Uptown Stage and Screen, 612 Eighth Avenue (tel: (403) 265 0120), and the Plaza Theatre, 113 Kensington Road Northwest (tel: (403) 283 2222). Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are sold only at the box office, normally on the day of the performance.

Cultural events:
The Calgary Stampede, Calgary's infamous cowboy celebration, is held every July over a period of ten days. The Banff Arts Festival, celebrating music, art, dance and aboriginal art, among much more, spans the summer months from May through to August.

Literary Notes

Although Calgary has been the setting for numerous Hollywood films, its depiction in literature is not quite as rich. Nevertheless, much of the history and texture of Calgary and prairie life can be appreciated through various books. Perhaps the best of these is Hammond Innes' Campbell's Kingdom (1952), a little-known book by a popular writer, chronicling the intertwined dramas of love and oil-drilling in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Margaret Laurence, one of the most highly regarded and influential of Canadian writers, grew up on in the prairie province of Manitoba and much of her work is set in the country's vast prairie, usually centred around the lives of women. Her most famous book, The Stone Angel (1964), is a story told by an elderly woman recounting her youth in a prairie town and is resonant with themes that dominate life in the west of the country. Another well-known Canadian book chronicling the days of the Wild West is The Englishman's Boy (1998), by an author rapidly gaining prestige in the Canadian writing world, Guy Vanderheague, who won Canada's Governor General's Award for this novel.



Copyright © 2001 Columbus Publishing
    
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