Special Performance: Great Newfoundland & Irish Songbook
Date: Nov 17
8:00 pm
- 10:00 pm
Where: Level 3 Atrium
Pianist and composer James Hurley is joined by the Irish Tenor Dean Power for a magical evening celebrating shared folksong traditions from Newfoundland and Ireland.
Power and Hurley offer new arrangements of well-known songs through a program that also features Hurley's unique compositions based on the works of Irish literary luminaries including James Joyce and WB Yeats.
This performance will include World Premieres of poems by Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and Duncan Major.
Special for this performance, local artist Duncan Major has created visual art projections that accompany the music.
The evening brings tradition together with contemporary perspectives and melodies both known and new.
Tickets: $35 plus HST. 10% discount for Rooms Members. Tickets are available online or by calling (709)757-8090.
About the Musicians:
James Hurley is a classical pianist and composer with a passion for improvisation. Originally from the West end of St. John's, he's been based in Germany since 2011. Together with his wife he runs Più Piano – a live performance venue and piano school which hosts events featuring artists from NL and around the world. He is affiliated with Memorial's School of Music and is dedicated to building a cultural bridge between his NL and German homes through performance and educational projects. As a musician he is involved in several solo and group projects and actively performs in Canada and the EU.
Dean Power is from Clarecastle, Ireland. He studied at both the RIAM and TU Dublin with Mary Brennan and Mairead Hurley. Following two years as a member of the opera studio at the Bavarian State Opera house, he was invited to join the house ensemble where he remained for another 9 years. Since leaving Munich he has enjoyed the flexibility of life as a freelance opera singer. His recent notable debuts include the Zurich Opera House, the Opéra de Lille, the Salzburg Festival, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Salzburg Easter Festival, as well as guest appearances at the Bavarian State Opera, the Irish National Opera, the Armenian National Philharmonic, and with El Sistema in Venezuela. On the concert stage, his recent performances include collaborations with the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa. He is currently a Cara O'Sullian Associate Artist at the Cork Opera House. In 2025, he will make his house debut at the Opera National de Paris.
Duncan Major is a St. John's-based graphic designer, animator and artist. Since 2004 he has operated the printshop Walpurgis Press, creating cards, prints, and books. In 2024, he won an Arts and Letters Award for his poetry, and in 2025, his hand-printed animated short film Imprint—inspired by his late mentor and friend Tara Bryan and produced by The National Film Board of Canada—will premiere.
Events & Programs
Unleash Your Inner Artist at The Rooms!
Come draw at The Rooms and practice your skills with focused exercises.
What to Expect:
Our experienced instructor will guide you through fundamental drawing techniques. Each session focuses on a different theme, from drawing the harbour view to capturing the details of our natural history collection.
This is a creative and supportive environment; all skill levels and experience are welcome! Designed for ages 15 and up.
Quality drawing supplies are available, or feel free to bring your own sketchbook.
Cost: $20 plus HST. 10% discount for Rooms members. Drop-ins welcome!
Fishing for Cod
For centuries, fishing for cod has played a vital role in the lives of the peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador. Generations of fishing men, women, and children made use of the land and sea to sustain them and spent their lives “making fish.”
Join us each day for an interpretive guided tour in one of our galleries. From the story of the cod fishery to visiting a current art exhibition to a Family Rainbow Tour, there is something for everyone.
Each tour is approximately 30–40 minutes and is included in the cost of admission. Free for Rooms members.
Unleash Your Inner Artist at The Rooms!
Come draw at The Rooms and practice your skills with focused exercises.
What to Expect:
Our experienced instructor will guide you through fundamental drawing techniques. Each session focuses on a different theme, from drawing the harbour view to capturing the details of our natural history collection.
This is a creative and supportive environment; all skill levels and experience are welcome! Designed for ages 15 and up.
Quality drawing supplies are available, or feel free to bring your own sketchbook.
Cost: $20 plus HST. 10% discount for Rooms members. Drop-ins welcome!
There are divergent theories about the origins of suffrage movements. How does Newfoundland fit into these narratives? What is known about the movement and what remains unexplored? How does this formative social movement complicate traditional histories of the former Dominion?
Join us for a special keynote lecture by Dr. Margot Duley for the “Up She Rises! A Public Forum about Women and Gender in Newfoundland & Labrador History” Symposium.
Cost: Free, but a ticket is required. Reserve your free ticket online or by calling (709) 757-8090.
This event is presented in partnership with The Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society.
About the Keynote Speaker:
Margot I. Duley is the preeminent scholar on the history of the women’s suffrage movement in Newfoundland, and author of Where Once Our Mothers Stood We Stand: Women’s Suffrage in Newfoundland, 1890-1925 (1993) and Extraordinary Passages: The Life and Times of Margaret Iris Duley, Newfoundland's Pathbreaking Novelist (2024). Her enlarged and revised history of the suffrage movement, From Silence to Suffrage: Women's Path to Citizenship in Newfoundland, 1803-1949, has just been released by Boulder Books (2025).
She is Professor Emerita of History and Women's Studies at Eastern Michigan University, and Dean Emerita, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Springfield. Dr. Duley has also contributed extensively to the community, including serving as a board member with the Newfoundland & Labrador Historical Society and with PerSIStence Theatre Company. Notably, she chaired a campaign to erect a statue to suffrage leader Armine Gosling, unveiled in June in Bannerman Park—the first singular statue to a named woman in the City of St. John’s and the first public statue in the province designed by a woman (sculptor Sheila Coultas).
For the symposium, Dr. Duley will revisit her research on the suffrage movement and present new findings related to its complex and formative history.