Annual Norfolk Musical Arts Festival senior competition

The choir from James Hillier School at the Norfolk Musical Arts Festival. 

Doug Goodhue

Advocate Correspondent

On Thursday, Feb. 27, 100 parents, friends, music teachers, guests, adjudicators, festival board members and Rotary Club members attended the Norfolk Musical Arts Festival’s best four musicians’ performances of the instrumental arts in memory of Dr. Peter F. Barrett at St. James United Church in Simcoe.

The performers, chosen from Feb. 24-26, included piano players from First Baptist Church candidates selected by piano adjudicator Amber Morphy, from 82 piano musician attendees that impressed the large audience with their proficiency and preparedness. All 82 piano attendees were assessed individually regarding their work by Morphy.

The piano winners were: Phuoc Lam Dao, Fantasia quasi-Sonata by Franz Liszt; Hannah Martin, Wedding Day at Drolshagen by Edvard Greig; Laura Nyburg, I Leap through the Sky with Stars by Alexina Louie; and Sadiha Sanjida, L'Egyptienne by Jean-Philippe Rameau.

The five best vocal arts winners, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Simcoe, in English Speech Arts were chosen from their Colborne Village United Church venue on Wednesday, Feb. 26, selected by English Speech Arts adjudicator Patti Townsend.

The English speech arts winners were: Kiana Littlemore, Marriage is an Economic Proposition by Greta Gerwig; Maggie-Dylan Norton-Shebib, A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act 1, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare; and Oliver Tilson, Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson.

The vocal arts winners were: Narissa D’Agostino, She Used to be Mine by Sarah Bareilles; Jessica Kennedy, “In My Deams” from Anastasia by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.

Andy Blackwood, Chair of the 39th Annual Norfolk Musical Arts Festival, commented that this year’s affair had grown by 50 more participants (to about 1,050 total), or five per cent more new total performers from last year. During the COVID epidemic, participation had become smaller but there has been a good return, or improvement in the last year, of performers and public attendance which makes the music festival much more attractive to the musicians and the public.