St. Anne's Concert Band finds success at MusicFest

The St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School Concert Band, directed by Mr. Josh Geddis, competed at MusicFest Nationals on Tuesday, May 13, at the York University Faculty of Music, earning a Silver standing at the B300 level. After receiving a gold standing at the B200 level last year, the band advanced to a more challenging class and is now competing at the B300 level - returning to the performance level they competed at before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

To attend this festival, bands must qualify with a high standing at a regional competition. The band qualified at an event held at Orillia Secondary School in March. This year, the national competition featured over 8,000 students from across the country competing at the highest level. 

 

The 33 members of the St. Anne’s C.S.S. Concert Band performed three difficult pieces and received very positive feedback from their adjudication panel at nationals. 

 

“I am extremely proud of this band. What makes them unique is that over half of the band this year are junior students - Grade 9 and 10 - they are playing at an extremely high level and have made a commitment to succeed. Our Grade 11 and 12 students have been great leaders this year,” says Geddis. 

 

The Concert Band and many other ensembles played to a sold-out crowd at the annual St. Anne’s May Melodies concert earlier this month. This concert featured almost 100 musicians playing across multiple ensembles. 

 

Notable mentions in the program this year go to: Divine Gervais (alto saxophone), who received a Regional MusicFest Honour Award in March at Orillia MusicFest; Sam McNeil (tuba), who received a National Honour Award in Toronto for his performance and dedication to the ensemble, and Audrey Kreuger (Euphonium), who received the Senior Music Award at the May Melodies Concert. Audrey is heading off to study music at Wilfrid Laurier University in the fall.

 

Although the performance at nationals wraps up the band season, there are still a lot of things happening in the music program at St. Anne’s as the year winds down. 

 

On Tuesday, June 3, St. Anne’s welcomes Danish singer/songwriter Tim Schou to perform for music students. The school Rock Band - The Screeching Eagles - is also looking forward to performing live on the Goderich Square with Animal Mother (Goderich District Collegiate Institute) and The Rockin’ Stangs (F.E. Madill Secondary School) at a Goderich BIA Huron County Secondary School rock band showcase in the late morning/early afternoon of Saturday, June 14.