Oak Bay Parks, Recreation, and Culture is excited to announce another season of free concerts in Willows Beach Park this summer! Bring a blanket and picnic, and enjoy live music in a beautiful setting. 

This evening: Anne Schaefer with Sean Drabitt

Born into a family of musicians in small town Saskatchewan, Anne Schaefer began her studies in classical music and performance and from there, has explored  virtually every genre as her passion and curiosity continues to expand. Her love of music could not be contained to studying, writing and performing, and she has had the blessing of 30 years as a music instructor and facilitator. Schaefer has travelled with her musical perspective through four continents and a myriad of contexts from performances in cafe’s, concert halls and everything in between, to private instruction, Choral ensembles and Workshops in many diverse formats. Schaefer believes that the very nature of sound is an energetic force that connects, inspires, celebrates and heals us and that our individual and collective lives are profoundly impacted as we embrace our inherent nature of musicality.

Sean Drabitt left Victoria 24 years ago to study Jazz bass in Los Angeles with mentor John Clayton. The next decade he spent first in New Orleans, where he worked with all members of the Marsalis family, then in New York, working with the best young players on the modern jazz scene, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Eric Harland and Ari Honig among them. Specializing in a hard driving hard bop informed style of bass playing he returned to Victoria close to 15 years ago. Today he divides his time between various projects on both electric and acoustic bass. More recent career highlights have included a western Canadian tour with Terrell Stafford’s quintet in 2012 and a number of gigs with pianist George Colligan.