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Two hundred and one emerging musicians and vocalists participated in 348 classes at the 79th edition of the Sudbury Music Festival between April 2-11.
On May 2, the festival invited 15 of the participants to perform at the annual Stars of Excellence concert and Awards Ceremony at St. Andrew’s Place.
“I was thoroughly impressed by the enthusiasm, dedication, talent and musicianship exhibited by so many of our students,” said festival co-ordinator Louis Simão.
Forty-seven financial awards were presented to instrumentalists and vocalists who achieved high marks.
Some of these include: Anastasia Presenza, winner of the Muriel E. Holford Memorial Award for junior piano; Zhuolun Li, winner of the SCDSB Award for intermediate piano; August Zhao, winner of the Saari Family Memorial Award for senior piano; Katherine Walker, winner of the Chrissie Nemis Memorial Award for junior vocal; Ella Koskela, winner of the Chrissie Nemis Memorial Award for senior vocal; Young Sudbury Singers, winners of the Sudbury Sings & Lockerby Fund Awards for community choir; Jaden Harrison, winner of the RDSB for senior guitar; Veronika Felhaber, winner of the Saari Family Strings Award for junior strings; and the MacLeod Elementary School Band, winner of the Saari Family Band Award for elementary school bands.
“We thank the participants’ parents and teachers for their support and encouragement, the adjudicators for their feedback and recommendations, and especially festival co-ordinator Louis Simão for all his work behind the scenes,” said festival board chair Ralph McIntosh.
Musicians who have been invited to compete at the provincial level are: Jazz Sudbury Youth Band (community band), Lockerby Composite School Wind Ensemble (secondary school band), Andrew Lian (senior lower strings), Veronika Felhaber (junior lower strings), Young Sudbury Singers (community choir), Algonquin Road Public School Primary & Junior Choirs (elementary school choir), Moosonee Public School Choir (elementary school choir), St. Charles College (secondary school choir), Ayla Madore-Ugurgel (junior guitar), Jaden Harrison (senior guitar), Jessie Fu (junior guitar), Mason St. Amant (junior guitar), Noah Smilek (intermediate guitar), Vishnu Krishnan Nair (intermediate guitar), Yongxing Li (adult guitar), Alexis Pawelek (intermediate music theatre), Elina Taipova (advanced music theatre), Ella Koskela (senior music theatre), Ethan Heimonen (intermediate music theatre), Jade Jack (junior music theatre), Gavin Wong (senior percussion), Anastasia Presenza (junior piano), August Zhao (senior piano), Austin Cheng (junior piano), Cecilia Chen (junior piano), Charlize Mason (intermediate piano), Ethan Caetano (junior piano), Hanning Ye (senior piano), Jayden Sun (junior piano), Kaylin Yu (junior piano), Levi Gonder (senior piano), Maley Song (intermediate piano), Marlena Archer (senior piano), Oscar Amaru Cárdenas-Cano (intermediate piano), Phoebus Wei (intermediate piano), Sonya Rowson (junior piano), Veronica Longe (senior piano), Zhuolun Li (intermediate piano), Zoe Commito (junior piano), Klara Martic (popular junior piano), Mio Martic (popular junior piano), Junyi Wang (junior upper strings), Ruizi Chen (junior upper strings), Sarah Lian (senior upper strings), Selena Le (intermediate upper strings), Yvonne Gao (intermediate upper strings), Alexis Pawelek (senior voice), Audrey Li (junior voice), Ella Koskela (senior voice), Ethan Heimonen (intermediate voice), Katherine Walker (junior voice), and Olivia Bishop (intermediate voice).
The Sudbury Music Festival motto is: "At festivals the goal is not to gain a prize, nor defeat a rival, but to pace one another on the road to excellence.”
Although most of the classes at the festival are indeed competitive, Sudbury Music Festival also offers non-competitive options.
The festival board congratulates all participants on their efforts, encourages them to continue their training, and wishes them well in their future musical endeavours.
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