As the Cochrane Music Society (CMS) anticipates its 20th anniversary next year, the group is now more than ever achieving notoriety and significant awards. Choral Waves choir sang in the Airdrie Rotary Festival of Performing Arts March 22 and attained First Class Honours. The adjudicator was so impressed that he invited Choral Waves to be the opening ensemble at the Festival Showcase Concert Last year, the Band on the Bow concert band won the coveted Superior rating at the Alberta Band Association Festival in Red Deer playing City on Stilts, a challenging piece composed by their very own Corey DeBaat! As the top performer, they were invited to be the Showcase band at the Southern Alberta Junior Honour Band Concert in Calgary this February. They wowed the audience with an exciting performance that included the taiko drum group Yama no Oto. The sold out Jazz Night at Killarney’s hosted by Cochrane Music Society’s Riverside Jazz Band on March 24 was the fifth sell out in a row – a testament to the band's popularity! Riverside Jazz plays all genres of music from funk to swing to Latin. They entertained audiences on the Mitford Stage at the July 1 Canada Day celebration, opened the new Aquatic and Curling centres at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sport Centre, hosted many dances and performed at the Ironwood Stage and Grill in Calgary. Jane Kaczmer, the society's treasurer, website developer and director of communications, said this year has been filled with all kinds of excitement for the society. "It has been a very exciting year so far. We've competed well, performed well, we're growing in our musical education and our directors are very exciting leaders," Kaczmer said. "We're enjoying how well we've been doing so far and we're looking forward to continuing that success in the future." Speaking of the future, Kaczmer said the Cochrane Music Society is already planning future events in order to celebrate 20 years of existence. "The 20th anniversary celebration is planned to be a special concert that will include a new commissioned piece for all three ensembles by former Bow Valley High School student Andrew Ball," said Kaczmer. "We will also be having a dinner and dance to go with that performance. We've tentatively booked a venue and we're getting all of our plans ready early for this special occasion. It's kind of early to give too much detail but we're very excited to be celebrating a 20th anniversary, and we have special plans in place in order to do so." With the society celebrating its 20th year, Kaczmer said the growth they've been since 1999 has been huge. "We started out as a small concert band and many of the people in that band had not played an instrument before. Some people had played instruments before but had put them down for a number of years and we're just starting to pick them back up again," Kaczmer said. "We were started by parents of children who were in the school music program. Over the years, the organization has grown to include concert bands, jazz bands as well as choirs. We're always looking for new members ... people come and go so every year we get new members, but we also lose some people as well." "We would like to grow the choir, and we'll take anybody who can play any concert band instrument. But as far as the choir is concerned, we'd like to add many more members. We're a really good and dynamic choir, but we sure would like to grow it." The musical groups are now preparing for their next big concert – the Celebration of Music concert – which is on May 15 at the Bow Valley Baptist Church. This year, Choral Waves will perform the premiere performance of the beautiful The River Home by Kathryn Parrotta. Those interested in joining the Cochrane Music Society are encouraged to visit their website at www.cochranemusic.ca
