Valerie Rollheiser, who is taught by her mom, Pam, got first place in Spoken Word Prose (14 and under) and a $200 scholarship at the Saskatchewan Music Festival this month. Supplied Photo
There’s nothing in the water to account for a record seven Lloydminster music students winning their classes at the Saskatchewan Music Festival Provincials.
The results from the provincial finals and the provincial level of the Canada West Excellence competition, held in Regina June 1-4, boiled down to raw talent, says Kerry Taylor, president of the Kiwanis Lloydminster and District Music Festival.
“I am absolutely thrilled that we had such a great showing down there. Our showing has been improving year after year and this year was an outstanding year,” said Taylor.
“We’ve had other years where we’ve had one provincial winner, maybe two.”
The seven winning students and 34 competitors in all from Lloydminster had to score 88 out of 100 at the Kiwanis event, held in Lloyd this spring to qualify for the provincials.
“In my opinion, it’s a reflection of the quality of the teachers in this town,” said Taylor.
The top student was Ruby Hickman, taught by Kathryn Edwards at Center Stage Studios.
Hickman won three classes including first place and a $200 scholarship in the Canada West Excellence Musical Theatre (13 years & under).
The youngster will be competing at Canada West in Edmonton in July.
“She is a very talented student. She works very hard and is just very enthusiastic,” said Edwards. “It really has paid off and she’s done very well this year.”
Hickman also won her Musical Theatre Ballad Classic/Modern class (12 and under) and a $100 scholarship.
She finished on top in the Musical Theatre Up-tempo Contemporary class (12 and under) and earned another $100 scholarship.
Edwards teaches vocals and notes the studio is lucky to have some very gifted students, including those in the musical theatre classes.
“I love what I do for a job and I’m very passionate about promoting arts in our community and it’s very evident it’s paying off in a big way,” she noted.
Julia Gordon, also taught by Edwards, won her Musical Theatre and Ballet Contemporary class and a $300 scholarship.
A third Center Stage student, taught by Edwards, Kadence Trachuk, won her Elementary Vocal class (12 and under) and a $100 scholarship.
Taylor says a lot of students will save their prize money to further invest in their music education.
“The money is given to them to do as they wish,” she explained.
Pianist, Kayla Andres taught by her mom, Michelle, won her Piano Recital competition (14 and under) to earn a $200 scholarship.
Valerie Rollheiser, who is taught by her mom, Pam, got first place in Spoken Word Prose (14 and under) and a $200 scholarship.
Of the total Lloydminster entries in provincials, there were five in vocals, 11 in piano, one woodwind, 12 in musical theatre, three in spoken word, and two in Canada West Excellence.
Edwards was pleased, but not surprised by this year’s overall success at the provincials.
“We have a lot of talent in Lloydminster and I am very privileged to have a lot of talented students. I am very pleased to see them performing well and winning awards,” she said.
