ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Breanna Temple from the Bow Valley Music Festival. We’re coming up to the one year COVID anniversary and of some of the first events that got canceled. I understand that, last year, the Music Festival was a bit of a COVID casualty.

BREANNA TEMPLE: Yeah, it definitely was. We were basically ready to launch and then COVID struck, and we had to cancel at the very last minute, so we’re looking forward to relaunching this year.

RM: How are we going to be doing it for 2021?

BT: 2021 is a virtual festival, so all participants will be sending in prerecorded submissions online. It’s a great opportunity for anybody who is taking music lessons in town, and speech, by the way, there are speech classes for kids and adults. They can create recordings at home, those recordings are sent to an adjudicator, and then they get feedback on all their hard work.

RM: What’s the purpose of the festival?

BT: It’s just a really great opportunity to perform, to get feedback from an adjudicator who is different from your teacher, and to share your talents with somebody different than we normally see in our studio everyday. Or on our Zoom meetings, as probably most teachers in Bow Valley have been teaching on Zoom like myself. It’s also a really good opportunity for people who are beginning to perform in a way that’s a little less scary because you get to record it at home first and then share it with a small audience. I think it’s a good opportunity for people who are just starting to get brave enough to share the work that they’ve maybe only just started, especially adults. There are a lot of adult beginners out there who might like a safe environment to share their work.

RM: What are some of the deadlines here for submissions?

BT: Registration opened March 1st and it’s going to continue until March 21st. All the details are online.

RM: Is there a cost associated with having submission entered?

BT: We were very fortunate this year to get support from the Town of Canmore, so we’ve been able to waive fees this year. The festival is free.

Filed under: Bow Valley Music Festival, Canmore