The Battlefords Music Festival Committee is pleased to announce this year鈥檚 program cover contest winner. Congratulations to John Paul II Grade 12 student Bradley Osecap for his beautiful musical-themed artwork that will adorn the 2016 program cover. Thank you to all youth who submitted creative and imaginative entries. Several will be used within the pages of the program and displayed at festival venues for all spectators to enjoy.听
In response to the higher than usual band entries this year, the band dates have been expanded. The new dates are Tuesday through Thursday, April 19 -21.
Since our need for an adjusted schedule did not fit the busy schedule of this year鈥檚 scheduled band adjudicator, we have been granted an alternative. He is Grenfell born and raised Brian Unverricht. He attended the University of Saskatchewan, majored in piano, and graduated with the first Bachelor of Music class in 1971. He pursued further studies in New Jersey, Australia, Strasbourg (France) and the University of Calgary.听
He has taught band, choral, guitar, fine arts, and jazz studies to students from Grades 7 through 12, including several years at the U of S as a sessional instructor for low brass and four years as assistant term professor in music education and conductor of the concert band.
His teaching career has taken him from Australia to the DND schools in Germany to Prince Edward Island to Saskatoon. For many years he was the fine arts program co-ordinator at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon, where he directed 16 school musicals. While at Hardy, Unverricht commissioned eight composers from Saskatoon to write music for the concert band, choir, and jazz band.听
As a writer he has had articles published in Canadian Winds and Cadenza, as well as reviews in the International Trombone Association Journal. He was editor of the Sask. Band Association journal, contributed to local and provincial music curricula and wrote a high school guitar course.
Outside of school, Unverricht has been, at varying times a low brass clinician, a director and co-ordinator for band camps, brass days or jazz days at Hardy and an adjudicator for music festivals in Saskatchewan and Alberta. He served on the SBA board of directors and was the regional rep for the Saskatchewan Music Educators Association.听
In 2004 he was presented with the 鈥淪MEA Outstanding Achievement Award鈥� that recognizes outstanding accomplishment and an ongoing dedication to excellence in music, and in 2012 he received the Sask. Band Association鈥檚 Distinguished Band Director award for his musical leadership in the province.
As a trombonist, Unverricht has been a member of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra since the late 1960s and has performed with various brass quintets and jazz ensembles over the years.听He can also be heard performing with the Metro Jazz Ensemble and the Saskatoon Klezmer band.
Recently he has conducted the Saskatoon Symphony in music for their Silent Movie event at the Roxy Theatre and for a unique concert at TCUP geared to school musicians. His musical arrangements can be heard at such diverse events as the Saskatoon Children鈥檚 Choir, Yevshan dancers and special music concerts in Marysburg Assumption Church. An avid traveller Unverricht has visited all 10 provinces, about half of the states and more than 30 countries world-wide.听Since his round-the-globe trip after working in Australia, he has led many student groups on Easter excursions to Europe and Costa Rica.
This year鈥檚 vocal adjudicator, Dianna Woolrich, holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice with great distinction from the University of Regina, where she also completed course work for a graduate degree in music theory and taught for some years as a sessional lecturer.
The Musical Theatre and Speech Arts adjudicator, Julia Jamison, teaches voice and acting in the Department of Drama at the University of Saskatchewan where she has directed numerous Greystone Theatre productions. Strings adjudicator, Catherine Cosbey, is a Canadian violinist and avid teacher in her hometown of Regina, holding degrees from Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Yale School of Music.
The Festival is still in need of volunteers! We especially need听door greeters and adjudicator secretaries. If either or both of these jobs appeal to you, don't hesitate to contact volunteer co-ordinator Kelly Day at [email protected]听 or phone evenings 306-937-3322 and听cell 306-441-0992.听Kelly will be happy to discuss job descriptions and available opportunities. Both these roles are wonderful ways to enjoy a session while supporting smooth sailing of the event,
The festival schedule, for the 2016 Battlefords Music Festival is:听 vocal April 16 鈥� 18, band April 19 鈥� 21, Musical Theatre April 19, Speech Arts April 20 - 21, Strings April听22 and Piano April 21 鈥� 23.
听鈥淢usic washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.鈥� ~ Berthold Auerbach
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