The Twin Rivers Music Festival (TRMF) is shifting its focus an octave or two this year.
Instead of a full adjudicated festival, the TRMF committee in Dalmeny is opting for a virtual event highlighting young musicians’ performances.
The five-day Twin Rivers Festival Showcase March 22-26 can be accessed online through the TRMF facebook page. The event will not be adjudicated and will not have any registration fees.
TRMF Corresponding Secretary Marg Andres of Dalmeny said the festival showcase is designed to provide a stage for young musicians.
“When the province shut down last year at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were caught off guard,” said Andres. “We were all set to go and we had to cancel the festival on just a week’s notice. It was heartbreaking for everyone.
“The students, teachers and volunteers had done so much work, and we ended up not being able to hear a single note.”
She said the local festival committee did not want to have two years go by without a festival.
“We felt we needed to do something,” she said. “The provincial music festivals association outlined three options for district festivals: live, virtual, or some kind of hybrid combination of live and virtual. However, they all involve a lot of technology.
“We’re a small committee, and we weren’t able to work with any of those options.
“But, we still wanted to do something, so we came up with an event where we could use technology but keep it really simple. We wanted to give the kids a goal to work toward and an opportunity to perform, but without being adjudicated.”
The decision to hold a virtual event was made just before Christmas.
“When we got together as a committee last fall, we wanted to do a live festival six months down the road, but we had no idea at that point what the COVID-19 situation would be like,” said Andres. “We reached out to teachers for their feedback; and in the end, the consensus was that a full virtual festival wasn’t feasible. But, we felt we could handle a less formal online showcase.”
Notices were sent to area music teachers and participants registered by the end of January.
Andres said festival showcase participants will upload their videos on certain days, depending on their age group. The final day, Friday, March 26, will see videos from both the youngest and the oldest age groups.
“We thought it would be an interesting juxtaposition,” said Andres. “The younger kids can see where they are going, and the older kids can see where they came from.”
The uploaded videos can be accessed directly on each day of the festival by logging onto the TRMF facebook page.
Andres said the committee is optimistic the festival can return to live performances next year.