Nicholas Donaldson
The 2017 Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts is scheduled to begin this Monday (April 3).
There are four divisions again this year: piano, instrumental, drama, and vocal.
Festival chairman Dave Schwartz estimated there are 300-350 entries for the festival, comprising 150-200 participants.
He noted the local festival always is very well attended.
“We bring in adjudicators from Manitoba and they are surprised with the numbers we get,” he remarked.
Schwartz also said there’s a good number of new participants and small children performing for the first time.
A lot of senior students are participating this year, as well, he added.
“This year we have a big group competing for the Rose Bowl in instrumental, which is unusual,” Schwartz said.
He also outlined all of the positive aspects of participating in the festival, such as the confidence kids get from playing on stage and the smiles he sees when they finish a performance.
“They are relieved because they are finished but they are also thinking, ‘I did it,'” he explained.
“This will help them in interviews, at jobs, in university,” he reasoned.
“These are skills they can take anywhere.”
Schwartz credits the work teachers and parents do to get children interested in the arts and performing.
“The amount of work some of them do is astronomical; way beyond their normal job,” he lauded.
Schwartz also noted the numerous community groups that come together during the
annual festival.
He said churches, schools, public and private teachers and instructors, parents, and volunteers all work to run, participate, and attend the festival.
But he added the organizing committee always is looking for more volunteers to help out with anything from collecting money at the door to announcing participants.
The festival will run from April 3-20, beginning with the piano division taking place April 3-7.
It will be adjudicated by Loren Hiebert, a music teacher currently working in Manitoba who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and A.R.C.T. diplomas in Piano Performance and Piano Teaching.
He has adjudicated in music festivals across Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario.
The instrumental division, which takes place April 10-11, will be adjudicated by Laurel Howard, who has been teaching viola and violin for the past 30 years.
She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and has given master classes, and has taught at workshops and camps in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Howard also is a former director and a teacher of string techniques at the Desautels Faculty of Music, where she also co-ordinated its Suzuki program for many years.
English drama will be held April 11-13, with French drama taking place April 13.
The English drama adjudicator will be Lauren Hyatt, a University of Alberta graduate with a Master’s degree in drama and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in performance from the University of Lethbridge.
Hyatt was born and spent most of her life in South Africa, but now lives in Devlin with her husband who grew up in the area.
The adjudicator for French drama will be Michael Brady, a Fort Frances resident and University of Ottawa graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in French and a minor in philosophy.
Brady taught French Immersion in Saskatchewan until very recently, when he moved back here to continue his teaching career.
Brady is also a member on the local “Tour de Fort” board of directors.
The festival will conclude with the vocal division running April 18-20.
It will be adjudicated by Gail Singer, who holds a B.A. degree, a Master’s in French Literature, and also a teaching degree.
Recently retired from being principal of Earl Grey School in Winnipeg, Singer also sings with the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir and has adjudicated at more than 50 festivals in Manitoba and Ontario.
Festival locations include Fort Frances High School, Robert Moore School, Knox United Church, Zion Lutheran Church, and Donald Young School in Emo.
As always, the annual Highlights concert will cap the festival, which is slated for Tuesday, May 9 at the Townshend Theatre.
Schwartz also noted a drama workshop is set for Wednesday, April 12 from 4:30-6 p.m.
It will take place in the Shaw Room at the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre and be led by Hyatt.
Those wishing to participate in the workshop must register by calling Cynthia Donald at 275-9134.
The full schedule of dates, times, and locations, along with the division programs and more information about the adjudicators, also can be found on the festival’s website at www.ff-festival.com
You also can call Schwartz at 274-6031 for more information.
