Rose Bowl winner Miriam Monet (right) poses with the Rose Bowl Trophy and festival committee chair Cathie Catalano at St. Barnabas Church on Sunday Evening.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
The winner of the 2025 Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival Rose Bowl is taking home the trophy in what is just her first year in the festival.
Nineteen-year-old Miriam Monet moved to Medicine Hat with her family only this past summer, and while she had participated in other music festivals back in her home city of Toronto, this was her first year performing in Medicine Hat.
“I thought it would be a good way to put myself out there, and keep doing what I love,” said Monet. She continued on to explain that she had been playing piano since she was approximately seven years old, a passion she inherited from her father.
Monet is feeling surprised and overwhelmed to play the Rose Bowl, and even more so to ultimately take home the title as announced at the Stars of the Festival event on Sunday evening in St. Barnabas Church.
The piece she played in the Rose Bowl, “Polonaise in A Flat Major Op 53 (Heroica)” by Frederic Chopin, was a piece she had been playing for some time, which is what lead to her choosing to submit it for the festival.
“This and my other piece, they were the ones I was practicing,” said Monet. “I didn’t have anything else at the level I would want for a festival at the time.”
She’s pleased with her performance overall, but now listening back, she says she already has notes on where she can improve for future performances, as she plans to continue with piano into her college career. Monet added that she’s grateful to the adjudicators for their notes, and for the opportunity to make her first Rotary festival one to remember.
