Banff International Festival
of School Orchestras and Bands

St. Joseph's College,
Gregory Terrace,
Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia.

The Festival Centre
Banff, Canada

BANFF INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF SCHOOL BANDS AND ORCHESTRAS

This prestigious Festival is run by Cultural Events Worldwide at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff Canada. Banff is well known the world over for the magnificent National Park. It is situated in the Rocky Mountains and is very close to a most picturesque lake "Lake Louise". The film Dr Zhivago used the the Railway Station at Lake Louise. Being so high in the majestic Rocky Mountains, the scenery is just spectacular.

The township of Banff is situated in a Valley between huge snow capped mountains which are almost unbelievable in their beauty and majesty. For those of us used to a flatter, older land it can be quite overbearingly beautiful. You find yourself gazing at the scenery in awe. The famous Banff Springs Hotel is on the outskirts of the township and it is here that the Opening and Closing Ceremonies take place. This in itself is certainly a site to behold. It looks like a grey stone castle standing on the edge of a sparkling river.

The Festival is unique in that it is not a competition. It is organised to allow all students the opportunity to work with clinicians of the highest calibre. Marvin Rabin, one of the best known Music Educators in the USA is Artistic Adviser and Robert Culver who is Chair of the Music Education Department at the University of Michigan is Artistic Director. The clinicians are all Tertiary teachers and performers from the USA and Canada who are on Spring Break. This is why the Festival is held at Easter time. Each group spends a week with their own conductor as well as in Master Classes with specialists on their instrument. These Master Classes will have students from all of the groups, not just your own group - so students will learn to know students from around the world. The groups will also spend time with guest conductors so that they are able to listen to very experienced conductors who will assist with tuning and band performance and behavior. The Festival concludes with a concert series in the Concert Hall and finally with a closing ceremony and disco at the Banff Springs Hotel.

• You can link to information about the venue, The Banff Centre.
• The Banff Centre also has links to other external sites.
• The Festival is actually being run by Cultural Events Worldwide, based in Calgary.
• Other information about Banff in Canada is also available from The Official Visitors Guide

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