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Selkirk Pro Musica reaches schools

Visiting musicians will perform concerts and visit Kootenay Lake district schools.
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Nicola Everton

Selkirk Pro Musica will present six eclectic chamber concerts this year, and each act will make an additional trip to a Kootenay Lake district school to inspire youngsters.

“These wonderful events can be exceptional learning opportunities which go far beyond curriculum expectations,” organizer Elizabeth Cunningham told the Star.

Earlier this year brass quintet Fish on Five visited St. Joseph’s, while trio Nicola Everton, Sue Gould and Noemi Kiss visited Hume School.

“The school concerts are planned to be 45 to 60 minutes long with opportunities for the musicians to engage the students as well as to perform pieces from their repertoires specifically selected for the learners,” said Cunningham. And this year the concerts will involve even more students.

“In order to maximize the exposure to the musicians within the community, Selkirk Pro Musica is hoping to be able to extend the invitation to individual concerts to more than one school at a time,” Cunningham said.

The next performance will be from saxophonist Clinton Swanson, who will visit Blewett and Rosemont schools in February along with guitarist Doug Stephenson, trumpeter Don Clarke, acoustic bassist Rob Fahie.

That will be followed by the Breakwater Quartet, consisting of cellist Jeff Faragher, Fahie, and fiddler Aurora Smith. They will perform for Trafalgar middle school in March.

Jonathan Crow and Andrew Wan, a violin duo, will be playing at Brent Kennedy, W.E. Graham, Winlaw, and the Vallican Whole School in April.

Finally, the last concert of the May will be the Sycamore String Quartet, who will perform at South Nelson elementary school along with Homelinks students. The concerts do not cost the schools, because they received grants from the Osprey Foundation and the BC Touring Council.

"Because of the generosity of the grants, there will be no cost to the schools for this concert series," Cunningham said.