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Estevan and District Music Festival returns to a fully live format with increase in entries

The 59th Estevan and District Music Festival is to occur from March 20 and 30. The festival will wrap up with two separate awards programs on April 2.
estevan-district-music-festival-adjudicators
This year's Estevan and District Music Festival adjudicators are, from left, Alan Crane, piano; Melissa Wood, vocal/musical theatre/spoken word; and Scott Adelman, band/instrumental/strings.

ESTEVAN —The 59th Estevan and District Music Festival is to occur from March 20 and 30, with performances taking place at Trinity Lutheran St. Paul's United Churches, and Spruce Ridge, Sacred Heart, St. Mary's, Estevan Comprehensive and Bienfait Weldon Schools.

Alisha Mann, the president of the Estevan and District Music Festival, said it's a busy time for the executive, but they are almost ready to go. The schedules are finalized, while adjudicators are chosen and are on their way.

This year, all performances and programs will be in person.  

Piano performances will take place March 20-24 at Trinity Lutheran Church. Vocals and spoken word are slated for March 27-28 at St. Paul's United Church. Strings and band performances are to occur on March 29-30 at the schools and St. Paul's.

The festival will wrap up with two separate awards programs on April 2. One in the afternoon will be for bands, vocals and strings, and one in the evening will be for piano. Entry is $2 per session, and season tickets are $10.

Mann said participation is up, which was great to see after a few tough pandemic years.

"Participation is much higher than last year, which we expected going back to a live festival because we had to do a hybrid festival last year [due to COVID-related complications]," Mann said. "Registrations were only around 275 last year, and this year we have 400."

While the interest is higher this year, it's still not where it was before the pandemic. In the last live festival in 2019, there was around 600 participants. Mann noted that during the pandemic, both band and choral programs were suspended nearly everywhere in the schools and private studios, so it will take several years to see those programs rebound to what they were before.

A lot of the same kids are returning to partake in the festival, but there are also a lot of young, new performers joining it for the first time, which is encouraging to see, Mann said.

As always, piano has seen the highest participation rates with almost 300 entries. But there were some surprises in other disciplines as well.

"This year, the first time for our festival in a long time, we have a number of strings entries. That's something that's new. And I think it's in part ... due to a new teacher coming to the area," Mann shared.

This year's adjudicators will be Alan Crane, piano; Melissa Wood, vocal/musical theatre/spoken word; and Scott Adelman, band/instrumental/strings.

Crane holds a bachelor of music from the University of Western Ontario and a master of music in piano performance from the University of British Columbia. For nearly 40 years, he has been teaching a full class of students, ranging from young beginners to pre-professional young musicians to adults. Many of Crane's students have gone on to pursue careers in music.

In addition to being on the faculty of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music, where he served a term as chair of the piano department, Crane teaches part-time at the Langley Community Music School, where he was, for many years, co-ordinator of the piano program. As well as teaching, Crane is an active performer.

Originally from Manitoba, mezzo-soprano Wood has called Saskatchewan home for the past 18 years. A graduate of Briercrest College, Wood received her bachelor of arts in music performance voice under the tutelage of Dr. Ron de Jager.

Since graduating, Wood's passion has been to teach and perform. She has starred in numerous productions encompassing musical theatre to opera. Some of her more recent performances include Ruth in Pirates of Penzance, the Duchess in The Gondoliers, Miss Todd in Old Maid and the Thief, Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, The Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music and Marilla in Anne of Green Gables.

Wood has taught at Briercrest College in Caronport for the past 14 years.

Adelman is originally from Moose Jaw. He obtained his bachelor of music in music education degree from the University of Saskatchewan as a trumpet major in 1995. His 21 years of teaching experience in Saskatchewan began in the towns of Grenfell, Wolseley, Balcarres, Lemberg and Neudorf.

From 1999-2005, he taught band at Weyburn Junior High School and in 2006, Adelman moved to Regina to teach Grades 6-12 band for the Regina Catholic School Division. In the winter semester of 2010, Adelman was an interim conductor of bands at the University of Regina.

He has also taught music in Saudi Arabia.

In preparation for the festival, the executive was able to secure all volunteers two weeks in advance, and as of March 10, the only thing they had to organize was the scholarships.

"We get a number of donations from local businesses and individuals. Some are very specific about what they would like their scholarship money or donation to go towards, whether it be a certain discipline or a certain age group. And others just have us do what we need with it," Mann explained. "So, we have to now get together and go over that list of what we like to give out for prizes and for scholarships, and then we have to match it and match donors with the award recipients and organize that." 

The Estevan and District Music Festival usually gives away about $10,000 in scholarships and awards every year.

Mann also noted that the sponsorship has been pretty good this year. While some supporters were no longer there due to various circumstances, there were new businesses and individuals to step in.

"We would like to thank the local businesses and members of the community for your contributions that make it possible to bring music education to students in Estevan and surrounding areas. Your generosity makes it possible for the Estevan and District Music Festival Association to award scholarships, awards, and bring in special adjudication and workshops to our community," said the festival executive in the festival program.

Mann also noted that the festival is open to the public, and everyone is welcome to attend any of the regular performances or awards programs.

"Even though we've been in the community for nearly 60 years, some people still don't know what music festival is. We are open to the public to come and watch the performances and our awards programs as well, which also include some of our top performers," Mann said.

The full schedule can be found at the SMFA website.