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For Immediate Release, April 25, 2017 (Toronto, Canada) – The spirit of Music Monday stretches across the nation with spectacular showcase events in cities – from Charlottetown to Vancouver – as thousands of students, musicians, parents, and community members come together to create Canada’s largest single event dedicated to raising awareness for music education. Harnessing the unifying power of music, the 13th Annual Music Monday is a program created by the Coalition for Music Education in Canada which celebrates the power of learning and making music for all children and youth in Canada. The focal point of Music Monday is the simultaneous singing of the Music Monday anthem, Sing It Together at 12:30 pm EST.
In honour of Canada’s sesquicentennial, this year’s National Showcase Concert takes place in Ottawa with a free concert at theNational Arts Centre live-streamed through the Music Monday website on May 1 from 12 to 1 pm EST. Hosted by opera superstar Measha Brueggergosman and Seamus O’Regan, MP, the event will include the premiere of “Strong As A Nation“, the first in a series of videos by Cole Forrest a young Aboriginal film-maker and spoken word poet who recently won the James Bartelman Creative Writing Award. The video, which features Indigenous drumming from regions across Canada interspersed with spoken word, has been created for a Youth4Music Aboriginal project. Showcase Concert performances include a mass children’s choir, the Métis Fiddle Quartet, singer-songwriter Mimi O’Bonsawin, a harp and soprano duo, youth jazz and strings ensembles, and the Ottawa Junior Youth Orchestra. Songwriter Marc Jordan, musicians from the official Music Monday video, and the children’s choir will lead the nationwide sing-along of Sing It Together.
This year’s Music Monday regional events include:
- Charlottetown, the birthplace of confederation is getting ready for an “epic” day-long Music Monday celebration – “Music Monday On The Street”. There will be clinics, Jazz Improv with Rowan Fitzgerald, artwork created to music, multi-cultural presentations, and showcase performances. A march is planned up Great George Street to Provence House. Throughout the day, you will hear Aboriginal music, rock bands, jazz, folk and choristers. Alexander Shelley, Music Director with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) will conduct the Singing Strings and a mass choir of over 700 singers as they perform the Music Monday Anthem, Sing It Together. • The Shallaway Jubilate Ensemble led by Jennifer Hart, Associate Conductor will bring Music Monday celebration to St. John’s NL
- An amazing celebration at The Forks in Winnipeg with an outdoor concert under the canopy, weather permitting. Co-hosted by studentsJames Aikinson (J.H. Bruns) and Mariam Busari (Winnipeg Collegiate) the event includes performances by Nelson McIntyre Collegiate Ensembles, and Marion, Archwood and Nordale schools.
- The 3rd annual Brandon Music Monday event will take place at the Healthy Living Centre at Brandon University. As per tradition, a mass piece has been commissioned. The piece by Canadian composer Pat Carrabré will be performed by all groups as the finale.
- In Calgary, Music Monday will focus on Jazz with a student celebration at the King Eddy at the National Music Centre! Led by Band Director, Sean Craig, the JazzYYC Youth Lab Band and Bishop Carrol Jazz Choir are celebrating the day by performing a special jazz/big band arrangement of the Music Monday 2017 Theme, Sing it Together in the spirit of Music Monday’s annual efforts to perform the theme simultaneously around the country. Both groups will also perform “Nufsicisum”, an original composition by Phil Nimmons. The Nufsicisum Youth Leadership Awards are in Nimmons’ honour. The celebration also includes additional selections by both groups. Kate Stevens, a Bishop Carroll student, vocalist and musician is Calgary’s Youth4Music Leader and will host the event along with Scott Morin, Alberta Regional Board Member.
- In Edmonton, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra will celebrate Music Monday during an education concert for 1700 kindergarten to Grade 3 students at The Winspear Centre, featuring Running Thunder First Nations Dancers, the Métis Child Jiggers, and Daniel Gervais Grand Master Fiddle Champion, which is all part of the overall “Canadian Road Trip” theme. The 34-member Jazz Band from McKernan Elementary-Junior High School will be performing as the students arrive.
- The only signature Music Monday event organized solely by a Youth4Music leaders the celebration at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) campus will feature a diverse roster of local indie artists, and instrument petting zoo and an acoustic after show performance on the main stage. Performances at this free concert will feature world music artist Tamas Pal, soul-fusion outfit BassLine, Samara York is a TIMA-nominated, award-winning singer/songwriter from Richmond Hill and UTSC’s own student performers the Ensemble Chroma Quartet.
- Maestro Bramwell Tovey of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will conduct the mass performance with Canadian children’s singer, JUNO award-winning artist Charlotte Diamond, and Youth4Music co-host, Tom Davis, emceeing a free public concert at the Vancouver Art Gallery in Robson Square. An ensemble of more than 200 young musicians, Metro Vancouver elementary and secondary students from Vancouver, Burnaby and Deep Cove, will perform the Music Monday anthem, Sing it Together.
- The Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) hosts Montreal’s event, which features a song from the students of Collège Saint-Maurice, a jazz duo, and a special performance from Grammy® Award winner Jennifer Gasoi. Young and enthusiastic members of Youth4Music in Montreal, as well as reps from Fédération des Associations de Musiciens Éducateurs du Québec (FAMEQ), host the proceedings.
The new Music Monday anthem Sing It Together was commissioned by the Coalition for Music Education. The recording and official music video feature Inuit throat singing, Métis fiddling, indigenous drumming, and children’s choirs in celebration of Canadian diverse and vibrant musical heritage. To view the video, as well as to access multiple translations and arrangements of Sing It Together, go to www.musicmonday.ca.
Music Monday is made possible with the generous support of the Government of Canada, TD Bank Group, and the NAMM Foundation as well as Titanium-level support from Yamaha Canada Music Inc., Long and McQuade and all of our partner organizations. For a full list of sponsors please visit http://www.musicmonday.ca/sponsors.
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ABOUT MUSIC MONDAY
Music Monday is a signature program of the Coalition for Music Education. It is Canada’s nationwide celebration of the power of music in our lives, especially our schools. Music Monday is the only national celebration of music education that actively engages children and youth in their schools and communities. The first Monday in May (this year, May 1, 2017) music makers of all generations and genres gather in their schools and communities to make music, and at the same time during the day we join with one voice, by singing the official Music Monday anthem for a simultaneous nation-wide sing-along.
ABOUT YOUTH4MUSIC
Youth4Music is a network of youth who are passionate about music in their lives – learning, appreciating, creating and making music. Youth4Music provides a platform for youth voices, and leadership opportunities for youth to make a difference for music in their schools and communities. The program is “for youth – by youth – through music.”
More info: Youth4Music.ca
ABOUT THE COALITION FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
Music Monday is an annual initiative of The Coalition for Music Education, an organization made up of parents, students, educators, and business people from varying walks of life who support school music programs and highlight the importance of music education for all young people in Canada. More info: www.musicmakesus.ca
ABOUT CANADIAN HERITAGE FUNDING
The Government of Canada is providing funding of $80,000 to The Coalition for Music Education for Youth4Music through the Youth Take Charge program (Canada.ca/youth-take-charge) of the Department of Canadian Heritage. This project allows more than 300,000 young people aged 7 to 30 from across Canada to take part in music-related events in 2017-2018. By supporting youth engagement through music, the Government of Canada provides opportunities for young Canadians to become involved in a range of activities designed to strengthen their attachment to Canada through active commitment in their communities.
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