MusicFest Canada, originally established as the Canadian Stage Band Festival (CSBF), is a national educational

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

in Canada. It was founded in 1972 by Robert Richmond (the founding president), Gary Wadsworth, and Paul Miner. The CSBF added vocal and concert band components in 1981 and 1985, respectively. The name was changed to MusicFest Canada, in 1987, embracing the instrumental jazz, concert band and choral/vocal jazz divisions. In 2012, in partnership with the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a Arts centre, performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre build ...

, they added a 4th orchestra/strings division. MusicFest Canada is an invitation-only event. Ensembles must earn an invitation by performing at an outstanding level at one of the 54 affiliated festivals from coast to coast. The average attendance at ''The Nationals'' is about 8,000. Ensembles are adjudicated by noted Canadian and U.S. professionals in the jazz, band, orchestra and choral fields. Classifications are either by age (Jazz and Choral) or by an established level set by test piece (Concert Bands and Orchestras). Performing ensembles are ranked according to gold, silver, and bronze; awards and scholarships are also presented to individual musicians. In addition MusicFest hosts 6 national honour ensembles; the Woodshed Canadian Percussion Ensemble, the Denis Wick Canadian Wind Orchestra, the

Thomastik-Infeld Thomastik-Infeld is an Austrian company based in Vienna that develops and produces strings and rosins for bowed and fretted string instruments, including the violin, viola, cello, contrabass, and guitar. The company still makes "Dominant" str ...

Canadian String Orchestra, the Ellison Canadian Concert Choir, the

Conn-Selmer Conn-Selmer, Inc. is an American manufacturer of musical instruments for concert bands, marching bands and orchestras. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments and was formed in 2003 by combining the Steinway properties, T ...

Centerstage Jazz Band, and the National Youth Jazz Combo.

National finals

''The Nationals'' are officially held in spring (usually 5 days in May) in a select Canadian city. Regional competitions are held in several Canadian cities during the preceding three months. Nearly 250,000 musicians participate annually in the preliminary events; some 8,000 (in more than 350 jazz and concert bands, orchestras, jazz combos, and choral groups) proceeded to the finals. Activities at the national finals have also included clinics and concerts, the latter offered over the years by the

Boss Brass Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

, Gary Burton,

Canadian Brass The Canadian Brass is a Canadian brass quintet formed in 1970 in Toronto, Ontario, by Charles Daellenbach (tuba) and Gene Watts (trombone), with horn player Graeme Page and trumpeters Stuart Laughton and Bill Phillips completing the quintet. , ...

, the Humber College Faculty Band,

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...

, and

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

big bands, the

Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir The Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir is a choir from Montreal, Quebec, Canada that sings primarily traditional and contemporary Gospel music. The choir's repertoire also includes a mix of music ranging from Gregorian chant to Bach chorales, tradit ...

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

, Quazz,

UZEB UZEB is a Canadian jazz fusion band from Montreal, Quebec who were active from 1976 to 1992, and reunited in November 2016. The members are Alain Caron (bass guitar), Michel Cusson (guitar), and Paul Brochu ( drums). The band won a number of Can ...

, the Swingle Singers, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Vertical Voices, Sixth Wave, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Diana Krall, the New York Voices and others. The festival's closing concert of winning ensembles has been documented by TV specials produced for

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

and in 1976, 1977 and annually beginning in 1980, CTV.

Host cities

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

(1973–1977, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2013, 2015, and 2018) *

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

(1978 and 1990) *

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

(1979, at Expo 86, 1991, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2011, and 2014) *

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

(1980, 1987, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, and 2019) *

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

(1981 and 1993) *

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

(1982) *

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

(1983, 1988, 1995, and 2002) *

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

(1985) * Halifax (1992) *

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

(2004) *

Markham Markham may refer to: It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873. Biology * Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia * ...

(2009) *

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

(2017 and 2023) Additionally, the festival was hosted virtually in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Current executives

Jim Howard was appointed as the national co-ordinator in 1984 and the executive director in 1985. In 2016, Neil Yorke-Slater was appointed as the associate director.

Board and officers

* Peter Grant, Chairman * Bryan Stovell, President * Carmella Luvisotto, Vice-President * Kevin Merkley, Secretary * Lynne Watt, Director * Mark Hopkins, Director * Colin Clarke, Director * Andy Morris, Director * Jim Howard, Executive director * Neil Yorke-Slader, Treasurer and Associate director

Operations Committee

* Sharon Fitzsimmins, Chair (Concert Band) * Pratik Gandhi, Vice-Chair (Concert Band) * Isabelle Brassard-Porter, Vice-Chair (Concert Band) * John Chalmers, Chair (Choral/Vocal Jazz) * Scott Leithead, Vice-Chair (Choral/Vocal Jazz) * Frank Lee, Vice-Chair (Choral/Vocal Jazz) * Tony Leong, Chair (Orchestra/Strings) * Donnie Deacon, Vice-Chair (Orchestra/Strings) * Kelsley Grant, Chair (Instrumental Jazz) * Bob Rebagliati, Vice-Chair (Instrumental Jazz) * Alex Dean, Vice-Chair (Instrumental Jazz) * Shirantha Beddage, Vice-Chair (Instrumental Jazz) * Kim Vrieling, Production Director * Jean-Francois Fauteux, Technical Director * Thaddeus Howard, Executive Assistant * Colleen Oakleaf, Operations Manager * Nancy Howard, Registration Director * Changyong Park, Internet Technologies Director * Marilyn Mann, Honour Ensembles Coordinator * Joanne Pittock, Communications Coordinator * Jaimee Morse, Transportation Director

Former executives

Presidents

* Robert Richmond (1972–1984) * John Nikel (1984–1986) * Allen S. Michalek (1986–1996) * Tom Glenn (1996–2005) * Mark Wicken (2005–2018) * Denny Christianson (2018–2021)

References

{{Reflist

External links

MusicFest Canada
Jazz festivals in Canada Music festivals in Toronto Recurring events established in 1972 1972 establishments in Ontario