Abigail Sameshima performs "Gavotte" for cello Thursday at the 2025 Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival in the MHC Black Box Theatre.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
The 2025 Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival is almost at an end, but that doesn’t stop talent and music from flowing out of every performance space.
Ten-year-old Abigail Sameshima has been playing the cello since she was five, and says she looks forward to attending the festival every year to show off how much she’s learned.
“I think I did pretty good this year,” said Sameshima. “Sometimes when I do Rotary I’ll practice and it will sound really good, and then I’ll perform it not as well as I’ve always done it because of nerves, but I think I avoided that this year.”
Sameshima performed both a solo piece and a duet with a friend she has been playing with for about two months.
“I played Gavotte, and that’s a dance, so it’s supposed to be pretty classic; you’re supposed to do short bow strokes and make it really nice and clean,” said Sameshima. “And for my duet, it was The Flower Waltz. So it was another dance, and I played with a friend, and that was really fun.”
She continued on that Gavotte might be one of the hardest pieces she has ever performed, but she was excited to push herself and was deeply grateful for her teacher’s assistance in rising to the challenge.
Overall, Sameshima was happy with her adjudication by Andrea Case, and says the comments about her bow position will be helpful as she continues with her practice and growth as a cellist.
The 2025 Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival Rose Bowl will take place tonight at 7 p.m. in the College Theatre, starring the best performers from each category throughout the entire festival as they compete for both a $1,000 scholarship and the Rose Bowl trophy.
The winner of the Rose Bowl will be announced at the Stars of the Festival performance, which will be at St. Barnabas Church at 7 p.m. on Sunday.
