Every summer Campbell River music students attend summer music programs and camps. Every spring, Campbell River Friends of Music hold a variety concert to raise funds to help them go there.
This year’s Not Another Piano Recital will be held on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 26, at the Campbell River United Church.
In keeping with the tradition of having something for everyone, including some piano music, (despite the concert’s name), organizer Amy Lelliott has lined up some of the amazing musical talent available in the Campbell River area.
Trumpeter Jay Havelaar, himself a recipient of several Friends of Music summer bursaries as a child, has put together a jazz combo of himself and three well-known area musicians: Mike Eddy on keyboard, Don McKay on bass and Tom Tinsley, drums.
Two rising vocal stars, Charis Tazumi and Kate Le will be be singing some contemporary music.
Various groups from the Raincoast Performing Arts will don their costumes and captivate the audience with their musical theatre numbers. A duo of Amy Stevenson on viola and Janice Scriba on piano will explore some classical repertoire for this unusual combination.
Towa Stewart, an up-and-coming young pianist from Courtenay, will dazzle with a jazzy arrangement of Michael Jackson’s Bad/Smooth Criminal.
For over twenty years, the Friends of Music have helped students attend a wide variety of summer programs, giving them the opportunity to meet other young musicians, and often to explore outside their area of concentration. For example, a student who practiced piano diligently from September to June, might have the chance to play the clarinet in an orchestra, or the saxophone in a jazz combo, for a few weeks in the summer.
Since the program started in the 1990s more than 75 students have taken advantage of this financial aid.
Sunday’s concert starts at 2:30 and admission is by donation.
