Over the next few Festival Fanfares, you will be introduced to this year's music festival adjudicators.
Since our encouragement of the Battlefords area to consider speech arts entries has successfully resulted in continued school participation, we are excited again this year to bring an adjudicator strictly for the purpose of supporting speech arts and choral speaking. Bilingual actor, director and playwright of Saskatoon, Ian C. Nelson, is our speech arts adjudicator for this year's festival. He trained with Catherine Dasté in Paris and Wesley Balk (the Complete Singer-Actor) in Minneapolis, Minn. He has taken vocal workshops with Kristin Linklater and master classes with Jo Estill.
Nelson has performed over 130 roles, including most of the G & S patter repertoire and has appeared in a half-dozen world premiere stage productions in French and English. Original musical roles include that of Paul Hiebert in Sarah Binks, Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan by Ken Mitchell and Doug Hicton (stage and CBC Radio) and Jérôme in the French version of Connie Kalder's Dust and Dreams (Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg).
He has directed opera, operetta and musical theatre productions for various companies in Montreal and Western Canada, including productions of The Consul (with Lynn Channing and Philip May) and The Merry Widow (with Émile Belcourt). His adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan entitled The Pirates of Penzance, Sask. was a highlight of the province's centennial year.
Nelson's work has been seen literally from coast to coast in Canada as well as in France and Norway. Nelson is one of the featured panelists in the Saskatchewan Musical Festival Association's Art of Adjudicating DVD and was the 1996 recipient of the Janet Laine-Green Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to the development of theatre in Saskatchewan.
If you know a child or youth who is 18 years old or under who likes to draw, encourage them to create a musical themed image for considered use in this year's music festival program. Artists could also consider incorporating the fact that this is a centennial year for North Battleford.
The festival program cover contest deadline is Jan. 25. Artwork should be presented on 8 1/2 by 11 paper in a vertical or portrait orientation. Pictures may be drawn in black ink, pencil, coloured pencil, marker or crayon but should have a white background. Artists must print their full name, phone number, school and grade on the back of their entry. Selected pieces of artwork that are not chosen for the cover may also be featured within the pages of the program. Also look for festival venues to feature and display other worthy entries. We are confident that another amazing program cover contest entry will add unique musical flavour resulting in a keepsake for performers and family members.
The festival committee thanks all parents who have thus far offered their time to assist at this year's festival but there are still many areas in need so don't be shy to ask, "How can I help?" Simply contact a committee member if you have any interest. 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, or sponsoring a session for a music discipline of your choice, or being recognized as a patron or friend of the festival.
The currentschedule for music disciplines for the 2013 Battlefords Music Festival is: speech arts March 4 - 6, band March 7 - 9, voice March 10 - 15, piano March 16 - 19, strings March20 and gala March 22.
"There are three things to aim at in public speaking: First, to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, then lastly , to get your subject into the heart of your audience"- Alexander Gregg
