Though the Battlefords Music Festival is a regional festival, it is possible for local participants to compete at the provincial and national level festivals. Performers participating in eligible provincial classes must be recommended by the adjudicator to perform at a provincial level competition. In order to qualify, participants must compete in specified classes with a selection of a specified degree of difficulty. They also must be in at least two classes at the festival receiving a minimum mark of 87.
Most provincial classes are for senior students, but there are some intermediate opportunities in woodwind, violin, cello and piano in a variety of categories (such as Chopin, Bach, 20th or 21st century). Senior categories encompass male and female vocal solos including oratorio and opera, choral, speech arts, band instrumentalists and ensembles, strings and a variety of musical theatre categories.
The Battlefords area festival committee congratulates and recognizes local students from last year who were recommended to provincial and national festival. Spencer McKnight sang at provincial festival in the vocal categories of oratorio, opera and concert group. He also sang in the national festival, where just one participant from each genre is chosen from each province. Mikael Steponchev sang in musical theatre categories and the聽grade B male vocal class. Khrystia MacKinnon performed in the Bach, Mozart, Canadian/20-21st Century,聽Chopin, and piano recital categories. Chinu Youn performed in the intermediate Mozart piano class. Zaide Masich played cello in the intermediate string category. Aiden Bellows was recommended in the intermediate woodwind class for flute and Tawnie Kotyk in intermediate voice. Ericka Revet sang in the intermediate musical theatre class for ballads, while Mikayla Martens was in the intermediate musical theatre up-tempo category.
That was a lot of representation from our local festival. To show support for recommended participants, the Battlefords Festival Committee covers some expenses for the young musicians who are recommended to provincials and nationals from our festival.
Thanks to the generosity of many local businesses, organizations and individuals, there are numerous scholarships and awards up for grabs for participants of all ages. To be eligible for scholarships and awards, participants must be 19 years or under and have lived in the Battlefords and district for a minimum of six months prior to the festival or be furthering their education elsewhere, but still supported by parents living in the Battlefords district. This year, three accomplished former Battlefords music students will return to perform in our festival: Cole Knutsen, saxophone; Katrina MacKinnon, piano; and Nicole Klippenstein, voice. All these young artists are working toward undergraduate degrees in music.
The 2017 Battlefords Music Festival is scheduled to run from Saturday, April 1 to Friday, April 7. Discipline sessions will sometimes run simultaneously making for a busy but exciting week featuring local talent. The festival will culminate with a celebratory gala at the Dekker Centre, where festival highlights will be showcased and awards distributed.
Email [email protected]聽with any questions or if you are interested in volunteering. Any amount of time or talent you have to offer is welcome, so don鈥檛 be shy. Jobs come in all shapes and sizes at the Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival. If you have volunteered in the past and would like to volunteer again, please let a committee member know, so your interest is not overlooked. If your time is not available, but you or your business would like to support the festival monetarily, consider sponsoring an award to be presented at the final gala event, sponsoring a session for a music discipline of your choice or being recognized as a patron or friend of the festival.
鈥淭oo bad people can't always be playing music, maybe then there wouldn't be any more wars.鈥�
鈥� Margot Benary-Isbert, Rowan Farm鈥�
