The king of instruments is ready to sound a majestic chorus of praise at the 2013 London Kiwanis music festival.
Sixteen-year-old Kennedy Kimber-Johnson is among those ready to make the glorious 1908 Casavant pipe organ at Wesley-Knox church sing festival-style once more.
?It was fun. It was a lot different from ?piano Kiwanis,? ? Kimber-Johnson said this week, reflecting on her Kiwanis 2012 experience and the ?masterclass? touch to the competition. ?They showed you ? to help you play it.??
That harmonious combination of instruction, feedback and nicely played adjudication is a sweet sound likely to be heard again and again after the festival?s 53rd edition opens Monday.
Thousands of participants ranging from solo performers, like Kimber-Johnson and the few other pipe organists, to choirs and orchestras have entered. Organizers have adjudicators, 18 in all, going to schools in a scaled-down fest because of a teacher protest that?s left bands and choirs without conductors. The fest is facing a possible $20,000 deficit because there are thousands of fewer participants with missing school entries.
As the fest faces that music, there is still many sounds to brighten April ahead.
For the first time, pianists will compete for an award honouring the late Phyllis Anderson, a fine London pianist and longtime Kiwanis volunteer. Donations made to the festival in Anderson?s memory fund the award.
Also new are commercial contemporary vocal solos, a category shaped by ace London singer and activista Gina Farrugia.
Among the attractions for 2013 are two $1,500 awards for aspiring organists. One honours the late London composer Gerald Bales. The other honours an American professor and organist, Paul Westermeyer, an acclaimed American professor and organist.
Bales was composer-in-residence at Wesley-Knox church, where the Kiwanis pipe organ solos competition will be held April 17.
It?s where Kimber-Johnson studies with Wesley-Knox music director Karen Schuessler. The Grade 11, South Collegiate student will likely be heard at her church on Sunday playing prelude and postlude solos in part as Kiwanis preparation.
While singing in the choir, she noticed how ?cool? and ?challenging? that pipe organ seemed to be. So Kimber-Johnson, then 15, brought her keyboard skills as a piano student of Leigh Walter to Schuessler.
?She likes challenges and she likes complexities,? Schuessler said of her student. ?She has very good hand and foot co-ordination.?
A former youth soccer player, Kimber-Johnson has the strength and length to work the pedals.
Schuessler began studying the organ when she was 14 and is happy to see Kimber-Johnson start early, too.
Kimber-Johnson was fourth at Kiwanis last year. Her presence in the 2013 competition has been noted by one of her friendly Kiwanis rivals, London pianist and educator Mitch Rowat who studies with Paul Merritt.
?I would encourage you to contact a young member of the competition, Kennedy Kimber-Johnson,? Rowat e-mailed this week. ?(She) is much more photogenic than myself . . . (her) story, I?m sure, would be much more interesting to your readers. Why oldies like (me) are pursuing organ studies is perhaps much less mysterious than why a teenager would be.?
Mysterious? Just listen. The organ at Wesley-Knox can be played, well, ?loud? and it?s perfect for Bach at volume, too. That sonic world of loud-and-Bach is right for Kimber-Johnson.
The mystery to Schuessler is why more teens aren?t starting to fall in love with all those stops. The organ has the sweetest and most powerful roar and loud beauty of any majestic instrument. It also has computers. In the wired world of teens, wouldn?t the six computers in that 1908 Casavant reach the youth demographic, she wondered.
?I didn?t know it had six computers. I knew it had two,? her pupil responded.
Computers. Bach. The king of instruments, and ready to be heard at its mightiest and most tender. Played by a teenager who likes challenges and is undaunted by the prospect of competition with older souls.
Must be time for Kiwanis.
james.reaney@sunmedia.ca
Twitter.com/JamesatLFPress
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IF YOU GO
What: 53rd annual Kiwanis Music Festival of London, presented by the Kiwanis Music Festival of London Inc., assisted by community, corporate and city hall support, and three Kiwanis clubs of London and one in Tillsonburg. Hundreds of volunteers help the fest.
When: Opens Monday, continues to April 26.
Where: About 20 London venues
Selected events: Tuesday, 10 a.m. ? Class A secondary school choirs, Tuesday, 11 a.m. Challenge class secondary school choirs, both at Dundas St. Centre church, 482 Dundas St. (at Maitland); April 17, 1 p.m. ? pipe organ solos, Wesley-Knox church, 91 Askin St.
Special events: Kiwanis fest piano competition, April 24, 8 p.m., Aeolian Hall, 795 Dundas St.; Rose Bowl, April 26, 8 p.m., First-St. Andrew?s church, 350 Queens Ave.; Pipes and drums ? May 11, 8:30 p.m., London Central secondary school, 509 Waterloo St.
Tickets: A $10 pass, good for all events except for the Stars of the Festival concert; single tickets, $3; admission is free for kids 12-and-under; programs, $5; Stars of Fest concert, May 28, 7:30 p.m., at Centennial Hall, $10, children 12-and-under, free.
Info: Call 519-432-5183; visit www.kiwanismusicfestivallondon.com
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ROSE BOWL PARADE
What: Details on the London Kiwanis fest Rose Bowl, where solo competition peaks at the traditional fest finale.
Prizes: The Kiwanis Club of Forest City-London awards $1,000 to the winner and Rose Bowl replica. The Festival awards $500 to each finalist, who are the winners from open solo classes. Rose Bowl winners perform with Orchestra London.
On the calendar: Pianist Denise Jung, the 2006 winner, guests with the Orchestra at its Pops concert on May 5, 2:30 p.m. at Centennial Hall. Soprano Karine White, the 2012 winner, plays the Pops series on Jan. 19, 2014. White?s Western Don Wright music faculty grad student recital is Saturday, 2 p.m. at von Kuster hall. It?s free.
Coming up roses: ?The evening of the 2012 Rose Bowl competition will always be a special memory for me! After a full week of class participation in the Kiwanis Music Festival of London followed by a night of performances by several talented musicians in competition, it was truly an honour to be have been announced the winner of the 2012 Rose Bowl. This win has opened many doors for me, as I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to perform as a soloist with Orchestra London in January 2014. With the bursary awarded me, I was able to pursue summer program opportunities to further my skills. I will be attending Opera NUOVA, a six-week Opera program in Edmonton where I will be performing the role of Gianetta in Donizetti?s L?Elisir d?Amore. This experience has also enabled program opportunities for me in Toronto for the coming fall. I look forward to participating in London Kiwanis again this year in the speech arts and voice categories.?
? Karine White
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