With more than 200 entries, the 2021 Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival’s program is shaping into place. Yes, there are many COVID safety restrictions to navigate, but there are many positives to celebrate as well.
Though there will not an in-person audience for performers, live streaming will allow family and friends from far and wide to view performances. Participants will have the opportunity to enjoy the professional stage and concert grand piano the Dekker Centre offers. Participants will follow strict protocols, wearing masks whenever they enter or exit the performance space. Vocalists and those playing woodwind-type instruments will be allowed to remove masks while performing with the use of a plexiglass barrier for added safety.
With the 30 people maximum allowed at one time in the venue, attendance during performances will be limited to participants, adjudicators, teachers, volunteers, and venue staff. Ensemble performances will submit performances digitally for adjudicator review. After festival award winners are determined, gala performances will be pre-recorded Tuesday April 27. The program schedule will be available online.
Anyone interested in being a festival volunteer can talk to any committee member or email l.sander@hotmail.com.
The festival will run from Monday, April 19 through Saturday, April 24. Voice, speech arts, and musical theatre can be viewed over two days, April 19 and 20. Vocal adjudicator, Chris Kelly studied piano and was a member of the Prince Albert Boys Choir, eventually serving as their accompanist and director of junior choirs. He earned a double major, completing performance and academic requirements in both voice and piano at the University of Saskatchewan. He received a master of music in vocal performance from the University of Western Ontario. Kelly has been a sessional lecturer in the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Music teaching voice and serving as an accompanist. He has also taught keyboard skills and musicianship. He maintains a private voice and piano studio and performs regularly in recital, opera and oratorio.
Instrumental performances will all take place Wednesday, April 21. Instrumental adjudicator, Mark Preece, began playing the tuba at age 12 in the Salvation Army. He is the principal tuba and librarian of the Regina Symphony Orchestra. He has master’s and bachelor’s degrees in music as well as a bachelor’s degree in tuba performance. Mark Preece in demand as a clinician and adjudicator with the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association. He is the tuba and euphonium instructor at Reginaès Conservatory for the Performing Arts, teaches tuba and euphonium at the University of Regina, and is also on faculty at the International Music Camp in North Dakota. His career has led him to performances in the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. Prrece is also an active chamber musician as a member of Big Sky Brass, Regina’s professional brass ensemble, and the International Tuba Quartet. Preece has written arrangements for brass band, orchestral brass, brass chamber ensembles as well as pieces for solo tuba and tuba quartet.
The largest amount of entries is in piano performances. Piano entries span over three days, Thursday, April 22though Saturday, April 24. Janet Tieck, piano adjudicator, says growing up in rural Saskatchewan culture and landscape has profoundly affected her musical output. After completing music degrees from Prairie Bible College (Three Hills, Alta.) and the Royal Conservatory of Music, she has had her compositions performed at many concerts, new music festivals and on CBC radio. Her pedagogical compositions are now listed on many different syllabi across the country. Passionate about sharing music with those in her community and beyond, Tieck is a member of the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects, the Saskatchewan Registered Music Teachers’ Association (currently serving as president of the Swift Current branch). She is in demand as a piano teacher, adjudicator and clinician.
“I worked with my parents on the stage in production numbers since I was 4, but I never really gave much thought to being a performer on my own until I was 12 or 13.If you had told me when I was 18 that I wouldn't have made it until I was 29, I would have said, Forget it.” ‑ Helen Reddy(1941 – 2020)
