The sound of music, performed by students, will serenade Bancroft again this spring.
The North Hastings Music Festival is getting ready for its 65th year.
The syllabus for the festival is being released on January 30, meaning music students and their teachers can sign up to perform. The shows will take place during the first week of May at a few different churches
Festival President Gillian Metcalfe explains the benefit of participating, by sharing her own past experience performing in the festival as a piano player and singer.
“One of the most powerful experiences I’ve ever had in my life was performing in the festival as an adult,” she says. “It was a huge period of growth for me. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was getting up there, putting myself out there, but it was a huge accomplishment, to get over that fear.”
Metcalfe says the festival is not a competition and performances aren’t ranked. But there are adjudicators who give feedback.
The festival has categories for pianists, vocalists and players of wind, precussion and string instruments.
Metcalfe says that the festival has been carried from one generation to the next.
“A lot of people who live in Bancroft have either performed in the festival themselves, either by themselves or as part of a school,” she says. “So those who are supporting it, really have a passion and understand the value that this opportunity has on the lives of community members.”
Watch for the syllabus on the festival’s Facebook page.
