Contemporary Showcase with Frances Balodis & Wes Froese

We are delighted to once again participate in this year’s Contemporary Showcase, a national festival affiliated with the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects.

Our MYC® students will participate via video & Zoom, playing Rhythm Ensembles for Frances Balodis. In March of 1980, Frances Balodis sat at her kitchen table in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, creating a program that would fulfil the need for quality music education for young children. Today, MYC® has more than 24,000 students annually, 900 teachers, and is taught on 3 continents. More than 480,000 students have attended MYC® classes.

Our hybrid model means that our guest composer, Wes Froese, can join from SK, and our students can attend in person or virtually from all over the province. Wes Froese is a composer, performer and music educator in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He studied at the University of Regina with Bill Moore, and at the University of Saskatchewan with Robin Harrison. He also spent a year studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Wes is the former director of music at Horizon College and Seminary; founder and original artistic director of Eclipse Chorus, a Saskatoon community choir; and developer of the educational series Starting With Blues. His piano compositions can be found in Canadian National Conservatory of Music Northern Lights collections, and in both volumes of Saskatchewan Registered Music Teachers’ From Prairie to Pine.

Friday night’s agenda features our adult students, advanced students and a workshop on playing pop music. Saturday, the fun continues in Parry Sound with our Elementary classes and workshop.