Once again a select number of performers will pool their talents at Encore!, the St. Albert Rotary Music Festival’s grand finale.
The annual concert and awards ceremony will be held on April 22 at the Arden Theatre. It will showcase between 10 and 20 musicians, all of whom participated in the Rotary festival from April 7 to 17.
The night will end with the presentation of 80 awards.
“It’s great to support our young talent in St. Albert and it’s a once-a-year opportunity,” said festival coordinator Maryan Threndyle. “Here are some performers that may be destined for a future in the performing arts and we get to hear them first.”
On Thursday, the lineup for the festival was still in the planning stages but Threndyle promised that visitors can expect 90 minutes of exciting entertainment.
So far, the two-week festival has presented everything from choirs and dance, to musical theatre, classical guitar and violin performances. Encore! is dedicated to bringing some of the most enchanting performances under one roof.
“We need to make really tough choices to select people to perform at the concert and it’s usually people that have a really attractive selection,” she said. “Our concert is designed for families and we just want to have a really exciting program.”
After the showcase performance, the awards will be presented.
Some of the most prestigious are the $1,000 Lyle Moore Scholarship; the $500 Rose Bowl for the best of the festival; the $500 Marsha Stanton for the largest number of entries; and the $400 Elsie and Bill Filipchuk Musical Theatre Bursary.
While most of the award winners will be contacted shortly before the awards ceremony, the Lyle Moore Scholarship award was presented to local vocalist Bailee Melnyk this week.
Melnyk performed Monday night against violinist Lara Hyrak and musical theatre performer Andrew Boyd. She excelled in a presentation that included pieces by Blair, Vivaldi, Mozart and Brahms.
Melnyk said she will not perform at Encore! but was very happy to win the award.
Other awards that night will be presented to those competing in the different disciplines that participated in the festival. There will also be community-sponsored awards given out by local businesses.
Threndyle added that many of the performers will go on to the Alberta Music Festival, the next level of competition. But not every performer at Encore! will be up for an award, she said.
“There are some people that will be performing that just had the adjudicator recommend that they had a really great performance,” she said.
Preview
Encore! <br />Rotary Music Festival Showcase<br />Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m., Arden Theatre<br />Tickets: $15, available at the door or online at ticketmaster.ca.
