Hot on the heels of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival, another annual celebration is set to hit Whistler this week.
Now in its 12th year, the Whistler Music Festival will see up to 2,000 high school students descend upon Whistler for three days of various band and choir performances starting today (Thursday, April 28). And while there won’t be any snow sports attached to the event, organizers are confident those who participate in the festival will take something away from the experience.
“It’s really great,” said organizer Alison Hunter, a music teacher at Spring Creek Community School. “On Sunday morning (May 1) we do a mass choir performance of three songs and that’s about 800 people singing together. Following that they do the mass band performances, and that’s like 2,000 of them playing, so you’ve got like 89 flutes and 70 bass guitars. It’s really fun.”
According to Hunter, students will be coming from schools from all over western Canada and the U.S. and the musical styles will vary from jazz band, vocal jazz, concert band, and concert choir. The majority of students will be from Grades 10 to 12, but there will be some middle schools represented as well, with the youngest students in Grade 6.
“It’s a learning opportunity for everybody involved,” explained Hunter. “In lots of schools they have music programs, and to take their kids elsewhere to perform and do workshops is a huge learning experience. It inspires people as well.”
Hunter also noted that while the event may be a yearly occurrence, many schools don’t come every year. Schools often participate on a two-year cycle in order to have enough time to raise funds for the trip.
On top of playing together, students will also have the opportunity to compete against one another for a gold, silver or bronze plaque in a process where adjudicators assign marks based on the band/choir’s performance. The school with the most marks wins, but if the set standards are not met by anyone, then no awards will be given out.
While there is a competitive aspect to the event, Hunter is quick to note that competition is completely optional, and that the event is more about celebrating and learning about music than anything else.
“What makes this festival for high school kids unique is that they are required to be audience members when other groups are performing. Each time they perform and are adjudicated… they film the directors conducting so that the directors can see it. So after each performance one of the adjudicators goes and does a workshop with that group.”
The students are also treated to a professional performance at the gala concert on Saturday night (April 30). This year’s feature ensemble is the Troy University Symphony Band, a 55-piece wind and percussion group from Alabama.
The Whistler Music Festival will be spread over three venues: the Whistler Conference Centre, the Hilton Whistler Resort, and Millennium Place. While the festival is not generally open to the public, guest passes will be available for people to sit in on performances if room is available. Passes can be picked up at the desks of each of the venues if they are available.
