Music Festival showcases local talents; praised by adjudicator
The talents of youths across the community were once again put on display as the 2018 Moose Jaw Music Festival got underway March 26 and March 27 at Zion United Church.
The two-day event saw school and community choirs performing at the festival where they had the opportunity to hear feedback from musical director, Dr Melissa Morgan. This year’s festival saw performances from 12 choirs to include: St Michael School Elementary Choir, Vanier Collegiate Choir, Central Collegiate, Cornerstone Christian Choir, Peacock Collegiate and community choir, RuBarb Youth Chorus.
Morgan said she was impressed by the talents of the choirs. “I did two full days of adjudicating and I think the choirs in Moose Jaw are wonderful. It is so nice that a city this size has so many good school choirs. I heard 12 choirs from schools and the community and it is exciting. Not ev- ery city has a festival of two full days of choir participation. That is rare, and it was great to see in Moose Jaw.” Morgan says students and the community get to benefit from this two-day event as it aims to sharpen their skills for future performances. “This festival is non-competitive but the benefit of it is that they get workshop and clinic time. A person is brought in to work with the choirs and share information on how the choirs can improve so that if they choose to enter competitions, they have the skills and tools that they need to do so and if they are just seeking to improve themselves.” She encourages the community to contin- ue showing support for the choirs, saying that Moose Jaw is filled with great talents in music. “There are some wonderful teachers in this community and talented students and accompanists. I am honored to be here and hope that this festival continues. I hope to see a lot more people supporting the event going forward.” Josh Carlet, music teacher of the Cornerstone Christian School Concert Choir and Vocal Jazz, said he was happy with the feedback from the adjudicator. The school has been participating in the festival for over 10 years. “It’s always great to get some extra ideas from clinicians and bring our performance to the next level. We’ve been practicing for a couple months and we’re happy to have been part of this year’s festival.”
The festival continues April 22-29 with individual adjudications in a variety of instrumental and vocal classes.