“Mom would be washing clothes and I used to hear music coming out of that machine.”
That’s how Vic Lewis described the beginnings of a passion for music that lasted a lifetime, and inspired the music festival named in his honour that will celebrate its 18th year this weekend.
In all, 32 concert bands, wind ensembles and jazz bands from across Alberta, with upwards of 900 young musicians, will converge on Canmore to participate in a non-competitive weekend of music instruction, collaboration and lively performance, Nov. 7-9.
“‘The Vic’ as it has become known, has become extremely popular on the calendar of music students across the province,” said Tracey Wilkins, producer of the event. “The non-competitive nature of the festival allows these young musicians the chance to relax and focus on the learning experience and the pure joy of music.”
The learning experience comes with the hands-on instruction and impressive musical experience of top music instructors from around North America.
This year, The Vic Lewis Band Festival welcomes Kelly Jefferson, Tom Varner, Gerard Morris and Chee Meng Lo as guest directors. These educators will make the event a weekend students will never forget.
The public is welcome and encouraged to sit in on performances, which all take place at Canmore Collegiate High School and the Canmore Recreation Centre from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. There will be faculty recitals on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. in the theatre at the High School. The concert band clinicians perform on Saturday and the jazz clinicians perform on Sunday.
The festival schedule can be found on our website www.mountainartsfoundation.com.
The Canadian Mountain Arts Foundation named the festival for Vic Lewis, a Canmore pioneer who introduced band music to Bow Valley students in the 1940s, and who taught them for more than 20 years.
Lewis died just a few days after the close of the 1999 festival. The festival opens with a special concert on Friday (Nov. 7) for all the students involved. This year the festival also welcomes The Moving Instant, a jazz fusion band from Calgary.
For more information, contact Tracey Wilkins, Producer, Vic Lewis Band Festival, 403-688-0283 or email [email protected].
