Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival adjudicator Bill Hamm provides feedback to young musical theatre performers.--NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival organizers say the festival was a resounding success in its 68th year.
The annual amateur music festival, which ran from March 5-19, featured performances by roughly 1,000 talented young Albertans.
“It was wonderful to welcome everyone back to festival,” director Delynne Lorentzen told the News following the STARS of the Festival closing awards ceremony.
Lorentzen acknowledges she and her team volunteers encountered some challenges in organizing a festival of such scale, especially after having a slightly scaled-back festival the past two years as a result of the pandemic.
Nevertheless, she says this year’s festival went off without a hitch, thanks to the effort of those involved – including adjudicators and volunteers – and support of the community at large.
Cathie Catalano, president of the Music Festival Society, shares Lorentzen’s delight over the most recent festival.
“The 68th Rotary Music Festival is in the books,” said Catalano. “What an outstanding event it was. (We’re) not quite where we were before COVID, but definitely continuing to make a strong comeback.”
With such strong backing behind the festival, Catalano says she is hopeful it will continue providing young performing artists opportunities to shine for years in the future, despite upcoming changes in sponsorship.
“The Rotary Club of Medicine Hat has been the major sponsor of the festival for 68 successful years,” said Catalano. “But as the Rotary Club steps back from its primary sponsorship duties, the Music Festival Society has been formed and is taking over the job of organization and sponsorship of the festival.
“Going forward, the Society will need the community’s ongoing support to ensure the youth in our city will continue to have this opportunity. So, we encourage any community members … to come forward to lend support to the Society.”
Rotary Club sponsorships will officially end in 2025, though efforts to provide a smooth transition are already underway, with the Society undertaking a large portion of organization this year and for the next two scheduled festivals.
Supporters of the festival are glad it will continue despite the changes.
“It allows (performers) an opportunity to perform for the public and allows them to have a chance to get critical feedback from professionally trained adjudicators,” long-time festival supporter Dr. Bill Taylor said. “And that’s valuable to your performances as a musician (because) it allows you to enhance your skills and apply yourself to things that could be improved.
“And it gives us entertainment as a community, as a lot of us love these performances … I’ve derived a lifetime of joy from music, as do a lot of other people, in whatever capacity, so either as a listener or as a performer.”
Taylor and his wife Margaret have sponsored the festival through awards and several other means over the past decade and have plans to continue doing so in future, much to the gratitude of performers.
“I’m just really happy that they’re keeping this festival going despite everything and that (everyone involved is) really nice, kind and supporting,” said flutist Muse Munson, who is from Edmonton but drove to Medicine Hat with her family to take part in the festival.
