"Oh, it's been a wonderful two weeks! We had great adjudicators who inspired and encouraged and even entertained. We had good crowds and a lot of really wonderful performances in both vocal and piano, so we're quite excited to showcase the winners on March 23rd," shares Tenley Dyck, Professional Advisor for the Boissevain Festival of the Arts.
The festival featured piano performances this past week, and individual vocal, trios and choirs the week before. Dyck says they exceeded all expectations with having well over 300 participants throughout the two weeks of performances.
"There are always a few cancellations for whatever reason, but with the two advanced vocal and piano weeks combined we were well over 300 entries this year, which we haven't seen in a very long time, so that's been very exciting! And the weather cooperated this year. So, that was a bonus!"," she adds.
This year's festival featured a wide range of ages, from the very young to adult choirs, showcasing talent from across the Westman Region from a wide spectrum.
"We had vocal solos and duets that also included movie and music theater numbers," explains Dyck. "We had piano solos, duets, and even a trio and a wide range of styles of music. And on the Wednesday evening multigenerational concert this past week we had 15 entries and it was a lot of fun. Parents, moms, dads with kids, sometimes teachers, and again a wide range of ages from the junior participants and the more senior ones. It was a really fun time of sharing the love of music with families and community."
"And it was a really good turn out that evening," she adds, "and the adjudicator commented on that too, saying she looked forward to the evening. She had said this was such a great community event!"
With the two weeks of festival performances behind them, and the top performers have received their awards, the volunteer committee is now putting the finishing touches on the Awards Concert that will take place in one week's time, Sunday afternoon, March 23rd at 3:00 pm at the Whitewater Church in Boissevain.
"Yes, we are just busy putting that together and it will be a showcase of some of the youngest to the senior levels in both voice and piano, and a vocal on some, as well as a combination of solos, duets and trios. It's going to be a wonderful showcase of the talent that we've seen the last few weeks."
Tenley Dyck says there are so many people to thank for an incredible event that took place over these past two weeks! And they certainly couldn't do it without the volunteer help from many communities, not to mention adjudicators who are encouraging to these young performers.
"It's a big deal for these kids to go up on stage, and these instruments can look very different to these kids," she adds. "Some have never played on a grand piano before. And our adjudicators are absolutely wonderful. We have really had fabulous adjudicators over the past number of years."
Please listen to more with Tenley Dyck below and be inspired to watch these dynamic musicians on stage on Sunday afternoon March 23rd.