Applications and expressions of interest from choirs around the world are already coming in for International Choral Kathaumixw 2018.
In addition to choirs from Canada and the United States, Ghana, Poland, Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines are all represented in the list.
At a recent 2016 festival committee debriefing meeting, new artistic director Walter Martella said he is excited about the calibre of the choirs and that he is keen to begin his new role.
“I’ve been asked by several people how I will manage my new role along with my position with Powell River Academy of Music,” said Martella. “With the number of weekly administrative hours I have and flexibility in my private teaching hours, I will be able to handle the additional duties.”
Choirs have been asked to send in audition tapes, forms and profiles to start the process.
“While 2018 seems far away now, time will go by quickly and we’ll be back at it before we know it,” said Martella.
More information about the 2016 event was provided in reports from other committee members, including Romi Low, who looks after housing and feeding choirs that stay in commercial accommodations. Over the five-day festival, she booked 2,536 hotel nights for 411 people.
“There was not a single hotel room available,” she said.
Low explained that she delivered cheques to 21 hotels and restaurants totalling $163,000, an average of $33,000 per day.
An extension of the benefits of Kathaumixw, said Low, is found in stories about families of choir members booking their vacations here because their children reported having such a good time in the area.
Valerie Thompson, who is responsible for finding supplies for choir members billeted in homes, said 132 host homes took in more than 300 singers, an increase of about 20 homes over the previous festival.
“One prospective billet person wanted to back out, but I encouraged her not to; she later thanked me for not letting her do that.” said Thompson. “I had a couple young families who each took in four billets. They told me they had such a great experience, they wondered why they hadn’t done it before. Another heartwarming story came from a mother who said her young daughter had never bonded with anyone like she did with her two billets.”
Subcommittee chairs provided feedback and recommendations at the recent debriefing, which will be more fully explored at future meetings.
At the start of the meeting, festival chair Tom Koleszar said the purpose of the debriefing was to determine how to maintain and improve upon the success of past festivals.
“We had a great festival in 2016, but there are always lessons to be learned,” said Koleszar. “The 2016 festival was my first and I learned a lot that I’m looking forward to applying in 2018.”
The next Kathaumixw takes place July 3 to 7, 2018.
