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CRYSTAL & MARK KOLT
Crystal and Mark are in their mid forties,with three children (15, 13 and 4 yrs) and both have Bachelor of Music degrees from the University of Manitoba. Mark writes songs in both French and English, and won the song writing award from La Festival de la Chanson Populaire in Granby Quebec, in 1978. During the 1980's, Mark worked as a full time pianist for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Winnipeg's Contemporary dancers, while Crystal taught piano privately. Mark returned to University in the early 90's and qualified as a lawyer. He moved to Flin Flon as City Solicitor in 1995. In Flin Flon Crystal and Mark formed the Flin Flon Community Choir, which quickly grew to include over a hundred members. Crystal is the Conductor/Director, while Mark is the accompanist. The Flin Flon Community Choir has helped to organize successful collaborative performances in Flin Flon between the choir and various student and professional groups, including the Brandon Chamber players, the Winnipeg Symphony, the Saskatoon Symphony, Paris to Kyiv (Ukrainian traditional music group) and Men of the Deeps (Cape Breton Miners chorus). On March 8, 2003, the FFCC took part in a performance of the Verdi Requiem in Saskatoon with the Saskatoon Symphony. The FFCC has also been active in staging cabarets for local singers and musicians (most recently, on April 12, 2003, for an audience of approximately 280 people, featuring jazz, pop, a cappella and celtic music and short poetry/theatre segments) and also community theatre, both Broadway style musicals and original commissioned pieces. In 1999, the FFCC premiered Bombertown, an original musical, created by Mark, based upon the exploits of the local hockey team in 1957. Bombertown was reviewed in the National Post and was the subject of a short television documentary by the CBC's Robert Enright, which aired nationally. The FFCC collaborates closely with The Flin Flon Arts Council. In June of 2002,Crystal, Mark and 20 other Flin Flon choristers participated in a joint choral performance (with several Canadian choirs) in New York's Carnegie Hall, of Nova Scotia composer Scott-Macmillan's Celtic Mass for the Sea. Mark is currently working on creating an opera score for a libretto based on a Greek folk story by Elias Kulukundis of New York City. Mark (keyboards, violin and double bass) and Crystal (cello double bass, vocals) are part of On the Borderline, a 9 member celtic music ensemble. Mark is also a member of several local rock and dance bands, and has provided piano accompaniment and an original song for Jennifer Hanson, winner of an award in the jazz recording category at the Western Canada Music Awards.