By TERRY PUGH
Three young artists from the Hague area have been selected to take the stage at the fourth annual Canada West Performing Arts Festival July 24-26 at the University of Saskatchewan’s historic Convocation Hall.
The event features the top performers from music festivals in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Stefan Jones, Emma Gillingham and Mia Gillingham qualified for the prestigious event hosted by the Saskatchewan Music Festivals Association (SMFA). The three were selected based on their outstanding performances at both the Sask Valley Music Festival and the subsequent provincial SMFA competition in Regina earlier this year. They are among 42 performers from across Saskatchewan entered in the event.
Stefan Jones, a recent graduate of Rosthern Junior College, is in the ‘Speech Arts and Drama, 17 years and under’ category.
“It’s quite exciting,” said Jones. “It’s a lot of work but I’m looking forward to the performance. Speech arts is a blend of prose, poetry and performing arts. It’s all about elocution; showing different emotions through literature. It’s a serious art, but I like to bring comedy into it too. I think comedic timing is my strong point.”
Jones was born in Wales and emigrated with his family to Canada when he was just nine months old. He and his family returned to Wales when he was eight, but they moved back to Canada when he was 11.
“It was nice to go back and be among family,” said Jones. “I’m proud of my Welsh heritage, and Wales is a beautiful country, But honestly, I felt closed in among those mountains and I missed the wide-open prairie spaces. It was nice to come back home to Hague.”
Jones said he’s aiming to make a career in the film industry, and he credits his mother with coaching him in acting and performing. He’s done major roles in several community theatre groups including the Saskatoon Summer Payers and the Barn Playhouse, as well as high school productions at RJC. In addition to his vocal and acting talents, he also plays bass guitar in a three-piece rock band.
“I love to perform,” he said. “I’m not the strongest singer; acting is more my style. I hope to get into the filmmaking industry or television. Right now I’m sorting out my options for university. I’m leaning toward Vancouver, which is the hot spot for filmmaking in Canada. The University of British Columbia has a good film production program.”
Emma Gillingham is performing in the ‘Speech Arts and Drama, 22 years and under’ category.
Her younger sister, Mia Gillingham, will take the spotlight in the ‘Classical Voice, 17 years and under’ category.
Emma is currently a student at the University of Saskatchewan. She attended Hague High School (HHS) and later Rosthern Junior College (RJC). For the past two years she’s mentored HHS students in musical theatre and choral performances. In an interview earlier this year, Emma said encouraging music in the school and the community brightens people’s lives.
Mia Gillingham, another recent graduate of RJC, has won numerous awards over the past several years at the Sask Valley Music Festival.
The Canada West Performing Arts Festival is open to the public. The categories include: classical voice, piano, strings, woodwind, brass, classical guitar, speech arts and drama, musical theatre, and community/school choral. A concert featuring winning competitors is slated for Saturday, July 26 at 1 p.m. at Convocation Hall.