2013 Vocal Festival - UIMF

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Friday, March 1st, 2013
9am, 1:30pm, 7:pm. Check Festival Programme or www.nanaimomusicfestival.com to confirm session start times.

The Upper Island Musical Festival is again showcasing a thrilling season of talented vocal, musical theatre, and operatic performances from Nanaimo and area youth and young adults. Nanaimo arts enthusiasts and music lovers of all ages will be entertained by a variety of classical, humourous, and theatrical performances.

For more than 80 years, the Upper Island Musical Festival has provided opportunities and venues for young dancers, pianists, singers, violinists, dramatic orators, and other musicians to perform in front of enthusiastic and supportive audiences. Most performers are between the ages of 8 and 18, although there are several recital categories for adults. Their performances are observed by qualified and highly respected adjudicators, who provide encouragement and advice for improvement. The most successful performers go on to represent Nanaimo and area in the Performing Arts BC festival each spring.

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The Vocal section will be adjudicated this year by Kevin Zakresky.
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Kevin Zakresky was appointed Music Director of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Pacifica Singers in 2012. He has taught conducting at Simon Fraser University and directed vocal ensembles at Douglas College, and is also on the voice faculty of the Vancouver Symphony School of Music. From 2010-12 he was Assistant Conductor of Chor Leoni Men�s Choir.

Zakresky finished his Doctoral degree in Choral Conducting at Yale University in February 2012 with a concert performance featuring Cherubini�s Requiem for male voices and orchestra; he was awarded the prestigious Aidan Cavanagh Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement. While at Yale he was director of the University Chapel Choir and assistant conductor of the Yale Camerata. His major teachers were Marguerite Brooks and Simon Carrington, and he coached with Helmut Rilling and Stephen Layton. Before studying at Yale, he completed a masters degree in conducting at UBC, studying with Bruce Pullan.

Hailed as one of North America�s �rising star� conductors by Vancouver Sun music critic David Gordon Duke, Kevin has expanded his career in the last few seasons to include conducting, masterclasses and workshops, as well as vocal and piano performances in the United States and Canada. The recent winner of the BC Choral Federation�s Youth Music Award, Zakresky was the founder-director of Chor Leoni�s MYVoice program, a choral experience for young men throughout the lower mainland. He is a member of the faculty of the innovative Vancouver International Song Institute, serves on the faculty of the BC Choral Federation�s Choral Directorship Course, acts as an adjudicator and clinician throughout western Canada and volunteers for Musicians without Borders. He publishes regularly in choral and vocal periodicals. His latest article: �Operas from the Playground: Benjamin Britten�s Opera Roles for Children� appeared in the May 2012 edition of the NATS Journal of Singing.

He begins his tenure with the PGSO in September, 2012, a full season of concerts that includes performances of Handel�s Messiah, Mozart�s Requiem, symphonies by Mozart and Haydn, concerti by Vivaldi, Hummel and Bruch as well as music by Beethoven, Estacio, Richard Rodgers and John Williams. He will also make his debut performance with Vancouver�s West Coast Symphony in December, conducting Messiah.