Site HomePRODUCTS: HighlightsOUR SHOP: About |
THE RESULTS:Only Fiddleheads Violin School Students listed here. Beginner Small Fry: 1st Place - Rachel Bates (6) , Salmon Arm
|
[From Left] Fiddleheads Violin School Students Beth Ralston*, Kaia Pauli* and Rachel Bates* played in the Beginner Small Fry class.
Fiddleheads student Maria Wallis* won first place in the beginner group after only three months of lessons.
Twelve-year-old Fiddleheads Violin School student Mary Ross* took the Grand Champion Award at this year's Strings Alive Fiddle Contest. Pictured with proud teacher Rhiannon Schmitt.
|
2007 Strings Alive Fiddle Contest Winners Announced!
Back to School
Fiddleheads Violin School Students Take Home Well-Deserved Hardware; Teacher is Very Proud
The Shuswap Violin Society's fifth annual Strings Alive Fiddle Contest on May 12, 2006 featured twenty-two performances from area violinists of all ages. The SAGA Art Gallery in Salmon Arm, BC Canada was packed full with participants, their parents and general music lovers from cities as far away as Chase and Kelowna.
Judging were Salmon Arm musicians Carmen Stoney ARCT, School District 83 Music Supervisor Gordon Waters and Community Orchestra First Violinist Damien Plant. As in past years SVS President and contest coordinator Rhiannon Schmitt (also of Fiddleheads.ca) emceed and assisted the players on stage.
Sadly several Fiddleheads Violin School students were unable to attend the contest due to illnesses and scheduling conflicts, but eleven managed to make the event and score well. Fiddleheads students (as indicated by asterisk *) took four first place and five second place trophies as well as a Grand Champion award.
The evening started with players ages 3 to 7 in the “Small-Fry” class. First place winner of the Beginner Small Fry was Rachel Bates* (6) of Salmon Arm [see photo] who played her own delightful composition "Musical Song" with her mother, Debbie Phillips, accompanying on piano. Intermediate Small Fry winner was Kyle Davidson (7) of Kelowna.
First place in the “Twin Fiddles” class for the second year running was the very polished brother/sister duo Chloe and Kyle Davidson with their mother Celeste on piano.
Elisha Ramstad* (18) won first place in Beginner Adult. Special mention should be made of the 2nd place winner, Michael Sears* of White Lake, who faced his fears and played violin for the very first time in public. Both players have been studying violin with Rhiannon for less than a year.
The final order of the evening was an open invitation to all the performers to compete for the prestigious “Grand Champion” class. Four players competed [see photo at left] for the honour and Mary Ross* won another award for the evening. Her name will be added to the Golden Fiddle perpetual trophy and is the current Grand Champion.
Mary has studied the past three years at Canoe's Fiddleheads Violin School and has played in a few student violin groups in concert but still found herself very nervous on stage.
"My stomach was feeling awful but it was a good experience because I got to go up against really good violinists," she said.
"It boosted my confidence because I thought Chloe was really good and I didn't think I would win." Mary celebrated her win with a slurpie afterwards!
Second place in the Grand Champion contest went to last year's Grand Champion Chloe Davidson. The results were very close and the girls' final scores were only one point apart. Third place went to Kyle Davidson and fourth to Tamaya Turcotte (9) of Chase.
Proceeds from the event, estimated around $130, will go to the scholarships program to assist local string players. The Strings Alive Fiddle Contest and Shuswap Violin Society were created and founded by Rhiannon Schmitt in 2003.