All slots have been filled and the 41st annual St. Albert Rotary Music Festival is off and running April 4 to 14. There’s just one thing that’s different this year.
There’s a new festival coordinator. Laurie Christiansen is filling the post St. Albert music teacher Maryan Threndyl held for 15 years.
At her retirement during the 2017 Encore showcase and award ceremony, Threndyl was quoted as saying: “I hope the festival stays strong.” And in Christiansen, she’s received her wish.
Boasting a solid pedigree, Christiansen was executive director of the Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival for six years. Due to her success, she was also tapped to coordinate Tongue on the Post, Medicine Hat’s indoor folk music festival that runs every January at Medalta Potteries.
While the Rotary festival was a great opportunity to help youth “round out their experience in front of an audience,” the folk festival allowed Christiansen to interact with professional musicians across Canada.
“And it was held at the site Medalta Potteries right at the old kilns. So you’d get a really unique experience,” said Christiansen, now living in Sherwood Park.
But her love of music started at a young age growing up on an acreage near Ardrossan. She studied piano for eight years but veered towards playing popular songs instead of learning the classical repertoire.
Upon graduation from Ardrossan High, she opted to go straight into office administration as a secretary working for an interior design firm. Unfortunately, it went bankrupt.
“But I married my first husband, moved to Vancouver and started working for Cantrav, a special event planning company. And I realized I was good at it. I found working as a secretary quite dry. But at that job – every day brought something different,” Christiansen said.
Depending on how deep a client’s pockets were, Cantrav’s special events could be quite extravagant. Christiansen recalls planning a picnic on the top of Grouse Mountain where food was helicoptered in.
On a separate occasion, an insurance client hired Cantrav to host a western-style train robbery for a staff event that included the company president.
“We booked a freight train to Whistler and actors dressed as bank robbers came on board. I actually had to find costumes at the last minute.”
Cantrav was also involved organizing a number of activities for Expo ’86. In return the company received a stack of tickets for the opening ceremonies with Prince Charles and Princess Diana in attendance.
“She (Princess Diana) was even more beautiful in person than in pictures.”
But after Christiansen’s first marriage fell apart, she returned to Alberta and went to work for Royal Tours and Anderson Tours.
“I designed tours and would fill in for the tour guide when they weren’t available.”
She found love a second time, moved to Medicine Hat, and started a new phase of life promoting music at multiple levels.
Upon returning to the greater metropolitan area in 2017, Christiansen wasn’t prepared to forgo managing festivals. While her bread and butter job is property management, her true passion is festival organization.
“When I got back to Edmonton, I went to the Alberta Music Festival Association and poured my heart out. I didn’t want to give it up. I wanted to continue to provide the enjoyment of classical music and give youth the opportunity to study music.”
As luck would have it, word was out that St. Albert Rotary Music Festival was on the prowl for a new music coordinator.
Christiansen sees her role as providing organizational leadership prior to the festival while a strong core of volunteers take over the actual operations once it starts.
“I want kids to feel good about what they do and learn to be comfortable in front of a crowd.”
