Strings shine at Stars of the Festival
The best of the best were on display Sunday night at Medicine Hat College’s theatre.
The night marked the annual Stars of the Festival concert, which is held at the end of each year’s Rotary Music Festival.
The rotary club handed out thousands in scholarships over the two-week event, with Soren Lorentzen winning the Rose Bowl, as well as a $1,000 scholarship.
“I’m pretty excited right now,” he said after winning the grand prize. “It means a lot to win, and it means that I’ll get to enjoy the next year’s performances that much more.”
Lorentzen is a Grade 10 student at Monsignor McCoy High School, and has played the violin for 10 years.
“I practised for a lot of hours,” he said. “I put in a lot of work, so it’s nice to win and feel rewarded a bit, but I didn’t expect to win.
“There were a lot of really great performers other than me this year, so winning really just feels great.”
With the 63rd festival now wrapped up, executive director Delynne Lorentzen says she is happy with how the year went.
“It’s been fantastic,” she said. “I think one thing I really appreciated was watching kids and teachers support each other. We had a teacher that was sick before the festival, and we saw other teachers picking up her kids without a question.
“We had kids who lost and were really good sports about it. I saw kids who were really nervous supporting each other before the performances. It’s just so great to see that kind of stuff.”
The event showcased hundreds of Hat youth and adults over the two weeks, and Delynne says the city has a lot of talent.
“The talent level here is huge,” she said. “For being as small as it is, Medicine Hat has quite a bit of talent, especially compared to bigger places.
“We always have a few kids go off to provincials, and they do really well.”
The other competitors were, Samantha Scott, Conall O’Brien, Roan Foshaug, Laec Lorentzen, Jessica Schnell, Rebecca Feere and the Medicine Hat College Girl’s Choir.