Local pianist Bente Hansen is excited to stretch her fingers to play The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band album in it’s entirety with good friend Jesse Plessis, May 18 in the University Theatre.
“We’ve performed it three o
r four times. Jesse got the rights to it. I don’t know how that boy does it but he did this incredible arrangement of it for two pianos,” said Hansen, noting Plessis will be returning from Montreal to practice the show with Hansen for about a week before the show.
“The first time we performed it was for the first year Jesse did the Centric Music festival. And we had about two days to practice it,” she said adding they have performed it twice in the Southminster United Church and once in Calgary.
“Now we’re at a certain level with it. So every time we play it we take it to the next level. So it is definitely an event,” she continued.
“It’s really quite challenging and it really pushes me,” she said.
“I just really enjoy playing with Jesse. It’s very cool and very satisfying to play it, she said.
“Everything really exploded with that album. It pushed other musicians and opened up their minds to be more experimental and inventive. It was designed as a concert with everyone being part of it,” she said adding this concert will have a similar feel.
“It is a theatre in the round. The audience will be on stage surrounding us. They aren’t even using the seats in the theatre,” she said.
There will be 200 tickets available for the concert for $30 each. There will be a cash bar. The concert begins at 7 p.m.
