The city’s 10-day musical spring fling is back with the 2019 St. Albert Rotary Music Festival.
It is the 42nd edition of the music festival and the 25th operated by the local service organization.
The performances take place at six venues: The Salvation Army Church and Community Centre, Arden Theatre, United Church Friendship Hall, Red Willow Community Church, St. Albert Evangelical Lutheran Church and St. Albert United Church.
Alicia Krips, 18, an award-winning French horn player, is once again registered to play. The St. Albert resident, a nominee this year for the Mayor’s Celebration of Arts, has played in the festival every year since she was nine years old.
Initially Krips started on piano but now focuses almost exclusively on the horn after a Sir George Simpson Junior High band instructor encouraged her to try it.
Although one of the hardest instruments to master in band with complex tubing and finger keys at the centre, Krips accepted the challenge.
In 2018, the festival sent the young musician to provincials where her technique and expressiveness in playing Mozart’s 1st Movement of the French Horn Concerto so impressed adjudicators, she received gold. The prior year was silver.
“I was a little surprised, but overjoyed and thankful,” said Krips.
Now a student at the University of Alberta music program, she describes the horn as “so expressive. You can shape the notes any way you want. It’s so intimate, so close to you at all times.”
Although hours of practice helped Krips obtain these honours, the local festival offered several benefits to her growth as a musician.
“You get to hear other people and see how they interpret music in different styles. It can be inspiring to learn from them. You also get used to performing and it helps combat anxiety.”
Her own personal battle with anxiety reached a point where the jitters were physically strong enough to cause her arms to shake.
“But I learned to control myself. You only get better by performing.”
Receiving feedback from adjudicators is also one of the most important aspects, she notes.
“The constructive feedback teaches you something you may not have thought of. It’s like a different master class every year.”
This year the festival has accepted 1,800 musicians and singers totalling about 650 performances in a 10-day period.
There are two new categories – fiddle and ukulele.
“There are so many fiddlers in town. It’s an instrument people in St. Albert and area play a great deal. And the ukulele has become very popular in schools and community groups,” said Dr. Alan Murdock, festival past president.
“It will take three years to build it (ukulele program), but it took a few years for musical theatre to build and it’s one of our biggest successes.”
The returning classes include piano, guitar, musical theatre, band, brass/woodwind, vocal and composition.
Murdock is in a special position to promote the festival. Although he volunteered his services as an organizer for 25 years, Murdock also played French horn at McGill University’s Symphonic Orchestra. In addition, the two-octave tenor-baritone sang with the Montreal Bach Choir and the Montreal Elgar Choir.
And as a physician, he is uniquely qualified to champion music’s health benefits.
“I’m a firm believer there’s an educational element and neurocognitive involvement in music, something I’ve participated in and encouraged others.”
The festival wraps up with Encore!, the traditional awards ceremony and concert held at the Arden Theatre on Wednesday, April 24.
The talented Rose Bowl recipient will be announced and approximately $12,000 in scholarships, bursaries and awards presented to a growing community of young musicians.
