Two budding musicians from Garibaldi Secondary School will be heading to Toronto after they were selected to perform at an elite musical festival.
Grade 12 student Ethan Knowles, a euphonium player, and Grade 11 student Alex Gibson, who plays the tuba, will be heading to the 52nd annual MusicFest Canada “The Nationals” at the University of Toronto in May.
The pair will be two of thousands of young musicians ages 16-24, from across the country to be accepted for the one-week educational music convention, the largest in the country.
Knowles describes the euphonium as a low brass instrument, which in an orchestra setting is referred to as a tenor tuba. His start in music was on the guitar, but Knowles was soon attracted to wind instruments and he started with the euphonium when he was in Grade 6, and fell in love with it because of it’s expressive in tone.
“(I) found it was a more interesting way for me to show my musical ability,” he said, noting that he finds wind instruments unique and that each player tends to have their own style. “It’s really neat to see how winds can be brought together in contrast to an orchestra where there’s lots of strings,” explained the 17-year-old.
Gibson originally started in music playing the piano when he was about 11-years-old, but he said he was horrible because he never practised.
In Grade 8 he picked up the trombone and then in Grade 9 the tuba.
“Nine days after that I played in a local event called Tuba Christmas,” he explained, which led to playing in the school band. Then he was invited to play in the Maple Ridge Concert Band.
Last year he auditioned for the BC Music Educators Association Honours Band, and joined the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra.
When Gibson found out about “The Nationals” he picked up the hardest tuba piece that he knew of called, Fountains of Rome, by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, and worked on the piece from October until the auditions in January.
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Knowles has also been a member of the Maple Ridge Concert Band for two years and is now a member of the Fraser Valley Wind Ensemble where he is actively participating in as a solo euphonium player.
MusicFest Canada “The Nationals” was initially founded in 1972 and was called the Canadian Stage Band Festival. Last year the event saw more than 7,000 musicians converge in Toronto.
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To audition Knowles and Gibson were assigned excerpts of pieces they had to play, plus a sampling piece of their own choice. They found out in February they were accepted.
They will be flying to Toronto for the event which runs one week from May 13 to 18, where they will spend 12 hour days – from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. – with their ensemble. The week will culminate in a performance with all the other ensembles at the event.
Gibson said he is very excited to go, especially being at the youngest end of the age bracket of acceptance, and he is looking forward to learning a lot.
“It’s really great to be part of this and to be recognized,” said Knowles.
To learn more about MusicFest Canada “The Nationals” go to: musicfest.ca.