2020 is a special year we will not forget.
Our branch started the year with great energy and momentum, only to have to entirely change direction and adapt to the new realities of the global pandemic.
We feel extremely fortunate to have been able to complete our two biggest annual projects of the year, The North Shore Music Festival and The Collaboration with the Lions Gate Sinfonia, before the health restrictions were put in place in March.
Pre-Pandemic
The 49th annual North Shore Music Festival was held earlier than usual from February 1 – 14, 2020. This year it offered competitive and non-competitive classes in piano, voice, strings, and guitar.
Despite the early date, classes were full and well-organized. The festival ran smoothly for 8 days, followed by 3 excellent Final Concerts in the second week, one for the non-competitive section, and two for the trophy winners. The audience was treated to many memorable performances.
The adjudicators were: Piano – Michelle Mares, Wayne Weng, Yvette Rowledge; Strings – Calvin Dyck; Vocal – Sheila Christie; Guitar – Itamar Erez.
The 5th Collaboration with Lions Gate Sinfonia (LGS) grew into a mini-festival that included many events over the course of two weeks in February and March 2020.
Seventy-five students applied and auditioned for Clyde Mitchell and Andrea Siradze (the Concertmaster of Sinfonia). Violin, saxophone, flute, piano, and vocal students, including a few ensembles, presented a wide variety of styles and proficiency levels. The youngest participant was 5 years old. Two of our teachers, Marcia Meyer and Serah Strandberg presented their own compositions.
After auditioning over 70 applicants, Maestro Clyde Mitchell invited a group of these young musicians to participate with Lions Gate Sinfonia in one of the orchestra’s regular season’s concerts. And after listening to all students, he wrote arrangements of their short solo pieces, to be performed with either the LGS orchestra or with a string quartet. This year, Dr. Libby Yu was the Sinfonia piano soloist, who also coached the young performers.
Eighteen performances were selected to perform with Lions Gate Sinfonia on March 7, 2020, at Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver. The young performers had the amazing opportunity to experience the thrill of sharing the stage with professional musicians. In preparation for the big moment, the students participated in a practice recital, a masterclass with Dr. Libby Yu and Maestro Clyde Mitchell, and two rehearsals with the orchestra. It was amazing to observe the passion for music and the growing camaraderie between the students. All students played with confidence and flair. They truly enjoyed the moment.
All of the students that auditioned were given an opportunity to participate in one of the planned events. Some were invited to take part in one of the two masterclasses that Dr. Libby Yu conducted with warmth and inspiration. Another group of students were invited to play a concert with the Lions Gate String Quartet on March 1. This was also a wonderful opportunity for young musicians to experience being part of a professional ensemble.
The enormous contributions of all volunteers are greatly appreciated, and particularly the efforts of Celine Cassis, who was the main driving force behind planning the branch events, organizing the auditions and programs, choosing the venues, communicating with everyone, and countless other things.
During the Pandemic
After the health orders were announced in March, we quickly had to adjust to the new realities of social distancing. We are very grateful to the Provincial Council of BCRMTA for providing timely, extensive, and detailed information on all aspects of government programs and the transition to online teaching activities. Thank you for the great leadership!
The North Shore branch’s online GM meetings that followed were mostly centred on helping each other through this difficult period of transition and insecurity. Without the prospect of live events anytime soon, we focused on improving our familiarity with different technologies, the effectiveness of online teaching, and the safety of in-studio teaching. The silver lining is that we will be able to use these newly acquired tools in our future work after the pandemic is over.
Every year we celebrate the best exam results of our students in a dedicated event in November. We still wanted to honour our students and teachers this year again despite the restrictions in place. The day of the event was Sunday, November 29, 2020.
After many deliberations, we decided on a live event using the Zoom platform. Our goal was to have the personalized experience of a live event but without the unpredictability of online streaming. For that purpose, all participating students sent a high-quality video of their performance to the organizer accompanied by a short bio. The trophies and medals were collected in advance by a family member to be formally given to the student during the event. A few technical rehearsals took place involving the organizers. This was another interesting learning experience.
This year we had 25 student performers and award recipients. Almost all achieved marks above 90 on their exams, including one student who won RCM Gold medal, and another the RCM Scholarship.
Each student was introduced by sharing some of his/her non-musical interests and hobbies. It was interesting to hear that many students have high accomplishments in many areas in addition to music. After the performance video was played, a parent or a relative presented the student the award.
The event was very well received, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The skilful way the MC, Kelly Nobles, communicated with the audience created an atmosphere of warmth and festivity. Thank you to all the teachers who participated in the organization of the event and in preparing their students!
Unfortunately, because of the high level of time commitment of organizing an online event, we had to scale back most of our usual projects, like Sunday recitals and Canada Music Week. We are hopeful that with the new knowledge and experiences acquired over the last year, we will be able to revisit these events in 2021.
Keeping our spirits high, our small, but dedicated walking group is still exploring the beautiful North Shore in rain and shine while following the social distancing guidelines.
We remain confident that together in distance, we will come through stronger and wiser than ever before.