After the disappointment of cancelling last year’s annual Moose Jaw Music Festival, organizers and student musicians are very excited to be back in action with this year’s festival — although with a few changes.
The 2021 Moose Jaw Music Festival is underway, with attendees taking the stage for their adjudicated sessions from April 17-22.
Almost 300 entries were received from musicians largely in Moose Jaw, Caronport and the surrounding area, to take part in sessions for vocals, musical theatre, piano, strings, woodwinds and brass, and band ensembles.
All the sessions are taking place at one singular venue, with Zion United Church acting as the host of choice due to its longstanding history with the festival and impressive acoustics.
The 2021 festival had fewer entries in the strings and piano categories, but overall not a large dip compared to the numbers from the 2019 festival which had over 400 entries.
“We were very pleased to see that many entries [and] we’re certainly happy to be able to have live music,” said corresponding secretary Karen Closs. “We have some really talented young people in our community, and so we’re just really lucky to get that opportunity to hear them perform.”
A number of changes are in place that make the festival look slightly different than previous years, but Closs said that it's simply exciting to be able to host a live event at all.
“We’ve been working all year long, following along with the recommendations from the Saskatchewan Health Authority [to] make sure we would be able to offer something,” said Closs. “One of the purposes of having the festival is to give students an opportunity to get feedback on their performance from an adjudicator, someone different than their teacher, and that was important to us.”
All sessions of the festival are following strict public health safety guidelines, with performers situated behind a plexiglass shield and dedicated entrance and exit doors to keep traffic flow controlled.
Due to the nature of band ensembles, band performances have been recorded and submitted by video instead of taking place live, and duet performances are limited to only musicians who are from the same household.
The audience in the sanctuary is also socially distanced and limited to strictly fellow class members, adjudicators and festival staff, which means parents and festival enthusiasts aren’t able to attend the sessions in-person. Instead, they are able to watch the sessions live on the Moose Jaw Music Festival Facebook page.
Closs said that while the festival feels more subdued this year without the large audience and gathering of bands from across the province, the spirit of the event is still as bright as ever.
“Certainly it’s not the usual experience for them, coming in with masks and not having the same size audience [but] I think that most of the kids are just happy to have the opportunity to perform,” said Closs. “And that’s really what it's all about, growing and developing as a musician in their discipline.”
The final awards from the Moose Jaw Music Festival will be announced via social media following the conclusion of events, where adjudicators will make their recommendations for those moving on to the next level of competition and the festival will present its annual scholarships.
