Welcome back after what was hopefully a relaxing holiday in some not so pleasant weather. My shoulders still ache from the almost daily grind of moving snow from a long walk and driveway. Edmonton has had four times the usual snowfall – the third highest amount on record! – and traffic is working its way slowing through the side streets that haven’t seen a plow for some time. Anyway, let’s hope all this will be gone by April and we experience our usual good weather for the festival. 

At this point, we have 43 concert bands, 13 jazz bands, and 22 choirs registered for the festival. We are expecting to make it to 100 ensembles by the end of January so if you know of other directors interested, have them sign up as soon as possible as prime times are going quickly. 

If you haven’t already checked the various other links on our website, be sure to see who is coming to adjudicate. We have some great adjudicators – more Canadians this year than in the past, representing faculty from Canada’s best music schools – McGill U, U of Toronto, UBC, U of Alberta and Calgary, MacEwan University, U of Saskatchewan, U of Manitoba… The list goes on.

We are equally excited about both the instrumental and choral groups performing at our evening concerts. The Calgary Wind Symphony returns this year on Sunday evening with a very interesting Anime themed program in the Winspear. Consisting of some of the finest musicians from Calgary and area, they have also been a big hit at previous festivals. Perhaps Canada’s best and biggest military band, the RCA band from Edmonton is superb and regularly plays to full houses at other concerts in Alberta. On Monday evening, they will be featuring horn soloist, Jeff Nelsen, a local Edmontonian and member of the Canadian Brass and up to just recently, and full professor at Indiana University. This is Jeff’s second appearance at the festival and you will be blown away by his musicianship. Rounding out the evening instrumental programs on Tuesday evening in McDougall United Church, the Littlebirds Big Band will feature guest trombonist and jazz adjudicator, Audrey Ochoa. 

Choral concerts on Sunday and Monday evening are held in the glorious acoustics of McDougall United Church. Korora choir and the Augustana Choir from the University of Alberta, Augustana Faculty host these programs and will be featuring a couple of the more experienced participating high school choirs. The big event for choirs is Tuesday night in the Winspear and features an outstanding choir from Namibia called The Collective Singers. The mass choir also sings at this concert (with the Collective) and this will be a memorable performance for all involved. 

All of these groups have sample programs on the net – most of them on YouTube but many on Facebook as well. Be sure to download some of their performances for your students so they know what to expect. 

More specific information about festival details (where to go, what to bring, when to where, where to park, etc etc) will be coming up at the end of January.

Stay warm. 

Dr. Dennis Prime 

Cantando Festival Founder and Director