OUTLOOK - The 2023 Canada West Performing Arts Festival took place in Edmonton in July and featured the top music and speech arts competitors from each of its partnering provinces; Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Performers from Outlook represented this province in two categories; musical theatre and choral competitions. Both did Saskatchewan proud.
Trason Ridgewell is a well-loved performer in the area, known for his work on stage with Equinox Theatre, LCBI High School, and the Outlook and District Music Festival. After competing in the festival at the local level, Trason was recommended for the provincial finals in Regina where he came in first place in musical theatre. That result meant he was recommended for the Canada West competition which took place at Allard Hall at MacEwan University last month.
Getting ready for the interprovincial event required a bit of juggling. After winning provincials, being part of Godpsell at LCBI, and finishing off grade 12, Trason was soon off to work at Camp Kinasao, undertaking a very busy summer schedule. He had time to get in only four or five rehearsals; two with accompanist Karen Reynaud, before heading to the competition.
Arriving at the campus of MacEwan University, Trason saw the beautiful performing arts building where he would be performing. “I was in a smaller concert hall,” he said, “but still gorgeous. Felt rather professional,” he said with a laugh.
While admitting to a few nerves prior to the event, once it got going Trason did what he does best. “I got a little worried before I performed but once I got out there I just let it all go. As soon as I stepped on stage I just felt a wave of calmness take over.” It’s that ability to feel at home and command a stage that local audiences know so well, and it captured the attention of the Canada West adjudicators who awarded him second place in the interprovincial event.
Trason felt the competition was certainly a step up from the provincial level. “Yes I believe it was,” he remarked. “The performers I was competing against were professional and you could tell they had fine tuned their performances.”
Such a fantastic finish sets him up well for the future. After completing his summer as a lifeguard and camp counsellor he will head to the now familiar ground of MacEwan University in Edmonton where he will begin studies for a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in musical theatre. Watching performers from Alberta and BC at the competition has him looking forward to the atmosphere he is about to enter. “I’m excited to be completely immersed by musical theatre and to get to meet and collaborate with young people that love it as much as me.”
The other group of performers representing the province at Canada West was the 11-member Chamber Choir from LCBI. Director Graham Codling was thrilled to receive an email from the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association offering her congratulations to the choirs that advanced. Codling said, “It is very affirming that the work I have done with the chamber choir is recognized and appreciated.”
Rather than performing live like the other disciplines, choirs are evaluated based on a submitted recording. The chamber choir was adjudicated by Elroy Friesen, a name known to those familiar with the Saskatchewan Honor Choir. Friesen awarded the chamber choir a First Class Honors certificate that will hang proudly at LCBI.
Codling is spending time selecting music for the upcoming school year but he also waits to see who might want to be part of the extracurricular group that takes on more challenging music and exists for the joy of singing together. “I usually choose a number of songs over the summer that I would like to try but it does depend on who is interested and the mix of voices, so the repertoire will change accordingly.”
An impact on the group each year of course is the students that graduate, including Trason Ridgewell. While Codling will miss his gifts and initiative on the LCBI campus, he feels Trason is ready to embrace his musical future. “Trason has been wonderful to work with,” Codling remarked. “Having a strong tenor opens up all the SATB music as a possibility. He saw a need for a bass player in the jazz band so he got a bass and learned how to play it! Trason is talented but also willing to put the work in so I expect that he will continue to excel at Grant MacEwan and beyond.”
