The Shuswap Music Festival Society brings nine days of musical competition to the Shuswap beginning April 22.
The purpose of the Shuswap Music Festival is to provide an opportunity for amateur and/or young performing artists to demonstrate their achievements in music to their peers and to the community.
Adjudicators represent the best in music in several disciplines.
• Composer, producer and instructor Dan Wardrope has been playing the piano professionally for 20 years. He holds his A.R.C.T. from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and a degree from Trinity College in London, England.
• Sharon Stanis has a multi-faceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, and educator. As a co-founder of the Lafayette String Quartet, she has toured extensively in North America and Europe.
• Cynthia Goddard earned her A.R.C.T. diploma in performance at the age of 15 and received her Bachelor of Music Degree and Master of Music Degree with a full graduate fellowship in piano performance from the University of British Columbia.
• Peter Stigings has taught at elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels. He has served as an adjudicator, conductor, evaluator and workshop clinician throughout Canada, USA and Hong Kong. He has directed bands, choirs, orchestras and jazz ensembles and is known as a master teacher.
• Soprano Alexandra Kosachukova Babbel’s opera career in Chicago included the title role in the world premiere production of The Aspern Papers and roles with the Lincoln Opera and the Milwaukee Opera Company.
The festival takes place in several venues in Salmon Arm. Information about them and the competition schedule are available at www.musicfestivalweb.com/shuswap.
The Night of Stars Gala Concert wraps up the competition with a at 7 p.m. Friday, May 2 at the First United Church. The Shuswap Music Festival is a presentation of the Shuswap Music Festival Society and sponsored by the Shuswap branch of the BC Registered Music Teachers and the three Rotary Clubs of Salmon Arm.
Members of the public are welcome but photographs or filming are not allowed during the competition.