The traditional piano recital is usually attended by the teacher, the students, their proud parents, and nobody else.
The “Not Another Piano Recital” on Sunday, Feb. 28, promises to draw in a much bigger audience, because it offers something for every musical taste.
Sponsored by Campbell River Friends of Music, the afternoon concert is a fundraiser for bursaries given every year to help students in various summer music programs, such as CYMC or the Victoria Conservatory Summer Academy.
The concert, to be held at the Campbell River United Church at 2:30 p.m., will include both classical and popular ensembles, musical theatre groups, singers, and, despite the concert’s name, some pianists.
The Sugar Maples, a group of five talented local musicians, have been writing and performing their blend of folky bluegrass and blues-based country rock since 2012. A number of groups from the Raincoast Creative Performing Arts Studio in Campbell River will be singing and acting musical theatre numbers in costume.
Janice Scriba, Ted Milbrandt and Amy Stevenson have taken the unusual combination of piano, clarinet and viola to form the River City Trio. Together they explore the classical repertoire written for this particularly rich grouping of instruments.
For more than 20 years, the Friends of Music has helped students attend a wide variety of summer programs, giving them the opportunity to meet other young musicians, and often to explore outside their area of concentration. For example, a student who practiced piano diligently from September to June, might have the chance to play the clarinet in an orchestra, or the saxophone in a jazz combo, for a few weeks in the summer. Since the program started in the 1990s more than 75 students have taken advantage of this financial aid. Admission to the Feb. 28 concert is by donation.