Ontario Festival of Small Halls is kicking off the festivities this October with performances from a bevy of critically-acclaimed artists, including Canadian icon Tom Cochrane.
The two Tom Cochrane shows —entitled “Songs & Stories – The Duo”— take place on Friday October 11th at Brantford’s Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, and Saturday, October 12th at Guelph’s River Run Centre.
Ontario Festival of Small Halls first launched in August 2014, with performances from Old Man Luedecke, Buck 65 and others, in just three small venues located in Perth, Gananoque, and Bloomfield. Fast-forward ten years and the festival has hosted Colter Wall, Kathleen Edwards, Jenn Grant, Rose Cousins, Great Lake Swimmers, and many more acclaimed Canadian artists. The roster of venues has increased, and recently, the festival chose to further expand into southern Ontario.
“We’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback about the festival’s expansion throughout the province, while we’ve been tapping into our programming resources to present our best lineup ever.” says Ontario Festival of Small Halls programming manager Cat Cote. “Being able to land Tom Cochrane for these dates has been a big step in achieving that objective.”
With a career spanning close to 50 years, Tom Cochrane’s name and songs are well-known to most Canadians. Cochrane started out as a singer-songwriter in the early ’70s, launched rock group Red Rider in 1978 as their lead singer and main songwriter, and then moved on to a phenomenally successful solo career with the release of mega-hit “Life Is A Highway.” The Grammy-nominated record sold over one million copies in Canada and an additional six million worldwide. Cochrane is also a Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee, and, with Red Rider and as a solo artist, has won eight JUNO awards. He has released 21 albums to date and continues to tour consistently.
In addition to Tom Cochrane’s October 11th & 12th performances, the Ontario Festival of Small Halls 2024 lineup includes names like Sarah Harmer, Ron Sexsmith, Hawksley Workman, Tom Wilson Tehohàhake Trio, and others. The festival takes place on weekends from October 4th to December 7th this year, with a total of 60 shows across Ontario.
The purpose of Small Halls is to “bring big music to small places,” making the festival intimate, meaningful and community-oriented for both audiences and artists. The chosen venues are historic, small buildings in small cities and towns, and the host organizations often arrange community dinners, decorate the halls, and —always— spread the word. Each year, the shows at Ontario Festival of Small Halls consistently sell out.
For more information or to purchase tickets for Tom Cochrane’s performances, go online here.
