Andrea Bertram remembers sitting on her grandfather’s knee while he played piano.
She only had a few short years with him but his love of music helped shape her life and that of her family for generations.
“That influence was created at a very young age,” Bertram said. “It just followed naturally.”
Bertram’s grandfather was a founder of the Upper Island Musical Festival, established 83 years ago in Nanaimo, and she is now the president of the organization.
Each year, thousands of music, dance and theatre students travel from across the Island to participate in the six-week festival, held at venues in Nanaimo.
The students perform in their age and discipline categories, receive adjudication and possibly receive a recommendation to perform at the provincial performing arts festival.
The experience of performing and receiving feedback from adjudicators is invaluable for a young artist, said Bertram.
The networking among the artistic community begins at that stage as well, she added.
“The people you work with are the people you grew up with,” Bertram said.
Students who went on to provincials and a professional artistic career include Jillian Vanstone, principal soloist with the National Ballet of Canada, Katy Bowen-Roberts, singer and producer, and Devon Joiner, currently studying at Juilliard school of music in New York.
“There are a lot of names,” Bertram said.
She credits part of the success to the artists who returned to Nanaimo to teach a new generation, like Serra Stewart from Vibe dance school.
“It’s not just something in the water,” Bertram said. “It’s hard work and it’s the teaching.”
The festival opens Wednesday (Feb. 23) with junior piano at St. Andrew’s United Church and continues through April. Schedules, dates and times are available on the festival website.
Tickets to the annual Dance Gala at the Port Theatre and the Honours Performance, where selections to the provincial festival are announced, will be on sale in early March.
In 2011, the provincial performing arts festival will be held in Kamloops, while the 2012 festival will be held in Nanaimo for the first time in its history.
Bertram said planning is already underway but the organization needs a small army of volunteers to help pull it off.
For more information, please visit www.nanaimomusic
festival.com.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com