The West End Cultural Centre is pleased to announce the return of the internationally-acclaimed artist Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy is Owen Pallett, a violinist and singer from Toronto, who first appeared in Winnipeg at the West End in September 2006. Six days after his performance here he won the inaugural Polaris Music Prize for the best Canadian album, and he was then booked at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. He reappeared at the WECC in 2007 and in October will make his first local appearance in two years.

As Final Fantasy, Pallett has been noted for his live performances, wherein he plays the violin into a sampler controlled by foot pedals, which then loops back one or more of the previously played musical phrases as he plays additional parts simultaneously. He has also performed with more traditional string quartets as backing musicians.

Presented by 101.5 UMFM

A little bit gypsy, a little bit soul, a little bit of a lot. Ingrid Gatin makes eclectic beautiful with accordion, piano, vocals, handclaps, footstomps, and tambourine. Cast as one of Winnipeg's up-and-coming singer/songwriter/arrangers, Ingrid is getting ready to take Canada by storm.
After years of intensive musical training, starting piano at age four, with classical vocal and choral training, jazz, musicals, rock bands, and almost everything in between, Ingrid started writing and performing her own songs on piano, mandolin, and a little more than a year ago picked up the accordion.

Three years ago, Ingrid left the intimate music scene of Brandon, jumping into Winnipeg's vibrant music scene, where she hooked up with super cool old time roots/bluegrass band The Magnificent 7's, adding her voice and playing mandolin for two years. She was offered a tour with the multi-arts collective Companie J'amusement, and signed on as musical muse, doing the spring 2008 tour of Western Canada. The rest of the year has been a growing experience: small festivals around the city and the province, The Brandon Folk Fest and The Winnipeg Folk Fest Young Performers stage, writing music and performing at the Winnipeg Fringe Fest 2008. Ingrid's work has a french café feel with gypsy/balkan suggestions, among a variety of genres like the blues, jazz, and soul. Ingrid is usually seen on stage with back-up singers and percussion, and often with additional instruments: bass, mandolin, ukulele, and violin.



Final Fantasy website • myspace

Ingrid Gatin myspace