The 78th annual Peterborough Kiwanis Music Festival is winding down after another successful season, but the public still has a chance to check out some of the featured talent in the culminating concert on April 1.
“It will be a varied concert featuring all aspects of the four days of the festival,” festival operations manager Darlene Ewing said. “We are going to try to take a snippet of as much entertainment as we can and feature that.”
Ewing said this year the long-standing event featured 358 entries that showcased the skills of young musicians from Peterborough city and county.
“We have done this for piano, voice, strings, brass, woodwinds and choirs,” Ewing said, adding that even speech arts are a featured discipline.
And while the festival has its roots in classical music, she said a new sound is also emerging.
“Over the past few years, the music festival has changed a little bit, we have allowed pop music in, music for the screen is becoming popular so we have a few other aspects to the festival now that have made it a little bit more modern,” she said, adding that she is always blown away by the local talent.
Monica Duketow, 12, entered both the violin and piano categories. She has been playing violin for about seven years.
“The whole sound of the violin I’ve really enjoyed, and I have really developed a passion for it,” she said.
“Preparing for the Kiwanis is a great goal to have, having that motivation is great and I also like the performance part of it as well.”
She isn’t the only one. Duketow said through music, she has formed many friendships, including one with fellow festival participant Arianna Kloosterman.
“I love playing with other people,” Kloosterman said. “It builds a sense of community and I love meeting the other kids.”
The performances are open to the public, but one audience member the participants were looking to impress was the adjudicator. Martha Gregory had the tough role of providing feedback to the young performers, though she said she always takes a positive approach.
“We are here for encouraging them to keep going, to try new things, to hear each other, to hear different repertoire and just to get a fresh perspective,” she said. “Sometimes it’s nice to hear from someone a little bit different.”
Some performers will have the opportunity to proceed to a provincial festival in June.
The Peterborough culminating concert will take place Monday at the Salvation Army at 6:30 p.m. Admission is by donation. More information can be found online at the Kiwanis Music Festival website.
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