Aligning the stars at Chan Centre

Punch Brothers, November 24, 2012

Vancouver Westender

by Glen Handley

Joyce Hinton remembers it very clearly when she first saw the Punch Brothers perform.

“I was in New York for a conference and a colleague had invited me to come to a club for a musical showcase where they were playing,” says Hinton, the co-managing director of programming at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. “This band came on and they were so young. They were having so much fun and they teased each other – you could feel their joy. And then they would play and they were fantastic. The audience just loved them.”

And now, more than two years later and after some juggling of schedules, Hinton is bringing the Punch Brothers to the Chan Centre for a performance on November 24. “It takes a while sometimes for the schedules to align and everything to work out,” she says. “But it will be worth the wait.”

As the person in charge of orchestrating the Chan Centre program each year, it is Hinton’s job to travel the globe, looking for talented artists who fit the eclectic and quality standards of the UBC-based centre.

“I look for artists of a very high calibre,” she says. “I think artists that fit into our vision of cultural diversity, cultural understanding – they’re artists who are the very best in their field or are pushing the boundaries of creating new kinds of music such as the Punch Brothers. It’s not always the case, but we look at what the artists are interested as well – in their causes and issues.”

She says it is never a tough sell when attracting artists to play the centre and the city. The appeal includes a respected global reputation for the Chan Centre, the well-known natural beauty of Vancouver, and also the enthusiastic audiences that we are starting to become known for.

“Vancouver audiences are great,” Hinton says. “The artists really respond to the audiences. That’s what I hear over and over again that they’re so appreciative of how wonderful the audiences are. We love the music here.”

Hearing the animation in her voice when she talks about her job, it is clear that Hinton loves working at the Chan Centre. “It’s a fantastic element of my job where I go out to see and hear music. I’m the luckiest woman and I love it – I’m very fortunate.”