Not Another Piano Recital is a playful name for this variety concert featuring local performers on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Campbell River Friends of Music, it will be a fundraiser to provide bursaries to students who would like to attend summer music programs, such as CYMC (Courtenay Youth Music Centre) or Victoria Conservatory Summer Academy. The concert will feature the Carihi Secondary School Choir, the Rockland Beach Strings, singers from Raincoast Musical Theatre, and piano performances.
Carihi Choir started as an enthusiastic group of eight singers who were looking for a conductor. Beth Kingston, who has years of experience being in choirs and teaching music, happily stepped in to lead them and they have been singing together ever since! The students are in Grades 9-12 and Carihi Choir enjoys singing a wide variety of music from Classical to Pop.
The Rockland Beach Strings is string group directed by Christine Doknjas, under the same umbrella as the String Beans. They are all from School District 72 and have studied strings for three years or more. They will be performing two pieces. The first is a fiddle piece called Dancing Bear written by Bob McQuillen. The second piece is called The Witches Dance by Nicolo Paganini But they will perform it with a twist.
Two singing performances will be done by Rose Gibson, 14, and Olivia Gibson, 16. Rose is a grade 9 student at Carihi. She has been taking vocal lessons with Amy Lelliott for four years and has been in a number of musicals including The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins with Shoreline Musical Theatre Society, and Treasure Island with Raincoast School of Musical Theatre. Olivia is a grade 11 student at Carihi. This is her second year taking vocal lessons with Amy Lelliott. Olivia loves musical theatre and performed in Shoreline Musical Theatre society’s production of The Sound of Music, Raincoast School Of Musical Theatre’s production of Treasure Island, and Carihi’s James and the Giant Peach. Both girls are in the current musical production at Carihi called Newsies.
One of the piano performances will be by Julie Matsuzawa, who has won many awards and scholarships including the Ruth Scott Chopin Competition, the Virginia Graczak Piano Scholarship and the Dorothy Brealey Memorial Scholarship. She has represented the North Island at the provincials for three years and has spent several summers at Victoria Summer Academy. In 2018, Matsuzawa was selected to represent Campbell River for a year of study in our sister city, Ishikari Japan. This spring Matsuzawa will be completing her ARCT Performers exam. She studies piano with Shelley Roberts and advanced theory with Sandy Havelaar. She will be performing “A Wild Innocence”, written by Saskatchewan composer David McIntyre. This piece was commissioned by the Montreal International Musical Competition as the imposed piece for the Quarter-Final Round of the competition.
Another of the piano performances will be by Jean-Pierre Calitz, a South African born award-winning pianist and teacher, now living and teaching in Campbell River. An active soloist, collaborator, chamber musician, recording artist, repetiteur, pedagogue and researcher, he holds a Masters degree in Piano Performance from Western Michigan University in the United States. Calitz consequently graduated with a professional doctorate in piano performance from Université de Montréal. He has appeared for concerts in Africa, North America and Europe. Calitz is a passionate and dedicated teacher, highly in demand. Calitz is designated as a Registered Music Teacher and Professional Theory Instructor by the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers. He teaches many students in Europe and Asia through his online platform, zoompiano.com, also accepting students of all levels in Campbell River. Calitz will perform Sinfonia from the C minor Partita by J.S. Bach and Allegro di Concierto by Enrique Granados.
Clearly, with all of these talented individuals, Not Another Piano Recital is an event not to be missed. The concert will take place Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2:30 p.m. at The United Church in Campbell River. Admission is by donation.