I grew up immersed in sound. My mother is a violinist, and when she wasn’t practising on her own, she was often teaching or rehearsing with other musicians. I would sit under the piano while she played with an accompanist, feeling the sound with my entire body, and I would listen while she taught her many students.
I was lucky: music was a shared experience in our home, but far too often studying music is a solitary activity. Music festivals can help bridge that gap, giving young musicians a chance to experience a shared community, listen to their peers, and receive constructive feedback on their playing. It’s an opportunity to perform, to get over nerves, to feel the response of a live audience. Most of all, it’s an opportunity to share their music.
I studied music as a child, and I remember the excitement of preparing for music festivals, rehearsing with ensembles, warming up with other students the day of the event. I even enjoyed the delicious tension of waiting to perform for an adjudicator. Missing school to go to festivals was just one more delight! I learned a lot listening to the other performers, but I learned even more listening to adjudicators offering feedback. They offer a fresh voice.
The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts has been an opportunity for amateur musicians in our region to benefit from such experiences for the past 46 years, and we are privileged to welcome Kathryn Caswell as our bowed strings adjudicator for 2019.
Caswell has had an extraordinary career.
She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 34 years, and toured with them internationally. A graduate of the University of Toronto, she studied with David Zafer, then was awarded a Canada Council grant to study in New York with renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman. While in New York she helped found the Primavera String Quartet, which was the first all-female professional string quartet in North America. Caswell was also Concertmaster of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for three years. She now lives in Halfmoon Bay. With her wealth of experience, Caswell can pass on knowledge and tips to young musicians that are of incomparable value.
To apply to this year’s festival, or to find out more about the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts, go to www.coastfestival.com. The deadline for entering the 2019 Festival is midnight on Jan. 31.
– By Varya Rubin
