麻豆传媒AV

Over the next several columns, you will be introduced to this year's music festival adjudicators. Band is scheduled to open the Festival March 24. Adjudicating will be established music educator Greg McLean. He recently completed an interim term as director of bands at the University of Regina following 35 years as a high school instrumental director, the last 21 years at Swift Current Comprehensive High School. Under McLean's direction, the senior wind orchestra and jazz ensemble received many honours, including gold medal performances at MusicFest Canada and numerous guest showcase concerts at the Canadian Rocky Mountain Festival and the Moose Jaw International Music Festival.

McLean earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Brandon University. His graduate work included a graduate diploma in conducting and wind repertoire from the University of Calgary, and a Master of Music degree in conducting from the University of Manitoba. His mentors have included Dr. Dale Lonis of the University of Manitoba and Earl Stafford of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. His trumpet teachers have included brass specialist, Dr. D. S. Reinhardt of Philadelphia and Vincent Cichowicz of the Chicago Symphony. In 2001 he received the Paul Harris Fellowship from the Swift Current Rotary Club for outstanding leadership and community work with young people. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award presented by the Saskatchewan Music Educators Association in 2006.

He is a full-time faculty member of the Prairieland Summer Jazz Camp in Regina and has been guest conductor and brass coach at Saskatchewan summer band camps for more than 25 years. McLean is frequently invited to adjudicate at festivals, to conduct workshops and reading sessions and to direct honour groups. He is also the orchestra director for the Swift Current Oratorio Choir, conducting members of the Regina Symphony Orchestra and soloists each spring. Performances have included Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Creation, John Rutter's Requiem, Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins, Mozart's Requiem and most recently, Requiem by Karl Jenkins. He performs in the trumpet section of the Jeff Sawatsky Big Band, the Bob Moyer Big Band, the Regina Winds and the Prairieland Jazz Camp Faculty Band.

It was a busy afternoon last Saturday at the North Battleford City Kinsmen Band Hall for the festival's registration deadline. The late entry deadline is Feb. 7, with a $25 late entry fee. The deadline for submitting youth created original artwork for the Festival program or for use within the pages of the program is also Feb. 7. Please let any committee member know if you are interested in pitching in with the functioning of the event. Something as small as helping set up chairs can lighten the load for all helping!

The schedule for music disciplines for the 2014 Battlefords Music Festival is: band March 24 - 26, strings March 27, musical theatre March 28 and 29, voice March 30 - April 1, speech arts April 2 - 4 and piano April 5 - 7, with the celebratory gala Friday, April 11.

"That was the thing about playing with a band. There was always someone else to rescue you when it seemed certain you might fall behind. Only the solo acts left themselves open to those kinds of disasters." - Jennifer E. Smith, You Are Here