The 58th annual Weyburn Rotary Music Festival is set to bring the best from local performers starting with the piano competition on Monday, Feb. 29.
The piano classes will run until Friday, Mar. 4, with the vocal classes on Mar. 7-9, and the band-instrumental classes on Mar. 10-11.
Adjudicating the piano classes will be Janet Gieck of Pambrun, Sask.
She is much in demand as a piano teacher, adjudicator and clinician, having completed music degrees from Prairie Bible College in 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.
She was the centre coordinator for the Saskatoon branch of Contemporary Showcase until 2015, and is a member of the Alliance for Canadian New Music project, the Saskatchewan Registered Music Teachers’ Association, and Red Leaf Pianoworks, which is a composers collective.
She currently works in the fine arts department at Millar College of the Bible in Pambrun.
The vocal classes will be adjudicated by Lisa Hornung, a Saskatchewan-born contralto who has been honoured as one of the University of Saskatchewan’s Arts and Science Alumni of Influence.
In addition to oratorio and orchestral work, she has an active recital career with recent performances including works by Brahms, Schumann, Marx, Debussy and Handel, as well as a Christmas, spiritual and folk repertoire.
She runs a non-audition community youth choir and men’s choir, and is the founder and director of Summer School for the Solo Voice. She is known as a teacher, adjudicator, clinician and choral coach, and lives with her husband in North Battleford.
The band and instrumental classes will be adjudicated by Gene Aulinger, also of North Battleford.
He works with the North Battleford City Kinsmen Band, Battlefords Concert Band, and the Light of Christ Roman Catholic School Division bands. Prior to that, he was with the Living Sky School Division, where he was the music consultant for 16 years. Before his time in the Battlefords, he was a full-time band director with the Kindersley School Division for 14 years.
Aulinger earned a B.A. in performance at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, completed several courses at the University of Saskatchewan, and completed a M.M. in 1998 at Northwestern State University in Louisiana.
He taught at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts at Fort San for eight years, and coordinated the SMEA Honour groups for five years. He was awarded an outstanding achievement award in 1996, and the SMEA Honourary Life Membership award in 2005.
The same year he was also awarded the Distinguished Band Director Award, and was coordinator of the summer band camp at North Battleford from 1986 until 1991.
He has adjudicated festivals and led workshops in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and Louisiana.
The Stars of the Festival, featuring the top performers from each of the three competitions, will be presented on Thursday, Mar. 17 in the Cugnet Centre, starting at 7 p.m. Scholarships and trophies will be presented, and select performances will be given.
