Reimagine CBC Celebration 2012: Dan Mangan, Aidan Knight, and more

The enthusiasm and passion were palpable both onstage and off at the Reimagine CBC Celebration event, held at the Vogue Theatre on May 7.

If you're just tuning in, the Reimagine CBC campaign is an interactive project attempting to engage Canadians in helping to create a new vision for the national public broadcaster at a time when its funding has been drastically cut.

The lineup included a mix of writers and experts talking about how to improve the CBC, coupled with some audience-pleasing musical performances.

In the meantime, here's a quick rundown of some of the musical highlights of the evening.

Things kicked off with an intercultural performance by the Reimagine Quartet composed of Russell Wallace, Bonnie Soon, Rupinder Singh Sidhu, and Curtis Andrews. Here's a brief clip of their performance:

After numerous speakers and discussions, the evening closed with performances by independent musicians.

Aidan Knight dedicated his gorgeous song to Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages James Moore for Moore's cuts to the CBC.

Dan Mangan said he'd only had two hours of sleep after returning from a tour in Europe, but he was clearly committed to being there.

Hannah Epperson and Zachary Gray (who each performed their own solo pieces) joined Knight and Mangan in a rousing rendition of "The Log Driver's Waltz".

You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at twitter.com/cinecraig.