The Estevan and District Music Festival featured plenty of great performances and talented musicians during its 17-day run from March 17 to April 5.
"We had a wonderful festival with well-prepared students who performed their pieces very well," said president Pam Dechief. "The adjudicators were very helpful with guiding the students on how to improve their pieces, and the adjudicators were overwhelmingly pleased with the quality of the preparation and performance level that our students had in the festival this year."
The festival had approximately 650 registrations this year, which was similar to 2016. It offered performances in piano, band/instrumental, vocal and speech arts disciplines.
The top performers were invited back to perform during the festival highlights programs. Awards and bursaries were also handed out at those programs.
The first two programs were held on April 2. The band and instrumental show was at the Estevan Comprehensive School, and the vocal and speech arts showcase was at the Estevan Alliance Church.
Two nights later the top pianists were recognized during a show at Trinity Lutheran Church.
It's the second straight year the festival has wrapped up with multiple highlights programs, but this marked the first time the festival has had three.
Dechief said this is a format that will be here to stay.
"This allowed for a one-hour program for each of the three awards programs, and we were able to schedule in many performances from each, and showcase the students' talent," said Dechief.
Max Hiske was presented the Murray GM Award for Outstanding Performance in Multiple Disciplines. Dechief said Hiske excelled in piano, strings and percussion.
Hiske's percussion performance with marimbas was selected by the adjudicators to be performed at the provincial music festival in Saskatoon in the first weekend of June.
"It's like a giant xylophone, and he played with two mallets in each hand," said Dechief.
Also selected were Abbie Brokenshire and Levi Stepp for their respective musical theatre performances, and Hunter Ruel for his clarinet abilities.
"We wish them much success at the provincial level," said Dechief.
