Successful 2024 SEMF shows arts still thriving in the southeast

The 2024 Southeastern Manitoba Festival wraps up today, and board member Missy Taylor says it’s been another successful festival. 

Taylor says the entry numbers were up from last year.  

“We had about 530, which is up from last year, not a ton, but up from last year and we are still, you know, kind of regaining our numbers since we weren't able to run our festival for a couple years there. So, we're really happy with the entries that we saw come through, and we're just so thankful that our arts community is still just thriving in Steinbach and the surrounding areas.” 

Taylor notes that their discipline options were the same as last year.  

"We always have our vocal discipline, our musical theatre and choral, and then we have junior piano, senior piano, and then we also have our string section. So, it's a really nice and rounded festival.” 

When asked whether they had any requests to add disciplines, Taylor says, 

“No, we have not received any requests for anything different than we offer. I mean, in the past we have had speech arts in our festival, but we never had a ton of entries in that. I mean, we are always open to incorporating different things, and maybe bringing some of these things back someday, but for now, the way it's running is working really well.” 

One festival highlight for Taylor was bringing the musical theatre disciple back to the stage at the SRSS.  

“We have so many talented performers in our community and there's so many things that I could talk about, but I will say one of our highlights was really our musical theatre discipline, as we have not been in the theatre for a while. And so, just having our performers on a stage. It was just such a beautiful thing to see. We were so happy to be back there, and you could really feel the energy with our performers. It seemed like the stage really brought out excitement, and really special parts of their performances.” 

Another highlight was the choral discipline, which this year, had several non-school associated entries.  

“We had the Steinbach Children’s Choir and the Steinbach Youth Choir, both directed by Gabrielle Gallo. We also had the Eastman Men's Choir come out, and the Eastman Your Choir Past & Present perform during the festival.”  

“So, we're definitely growing in that area, and we have more choirs coming all the time, which is so great to see, and it really rounds out our choral portion really nicely.” 

Taylor says, once again there will not be a SEMF Gala night. However, they do hope one day to bring it back.  

"It's such a beautiful evening, but for now, we have had awards nights for each discipline. So, we've just kept going with that, and just tried to make those evenings a little bit more special in the meantime until we're able to get our Gala back up and running.” 

“But for now, it's just such a great way to honor our performers for the work that they put in during the week.” 

Taylor says during these awards evenings they hand out trophies, medals and scholarships, as well as letting the performers know who will be representing our festival in the provincials. 

“So, they are really special nights, an accumulation of all of the hard work that our singers, piano players and our choristers have put into the festival.” 

As the 2024 SEMF festival wraps up, Taylor says they are already planning for the next festival.  

“We are always looking ahead to next year. That is always on the back of our mind. We will meet together for our AGM, where we kind of go over things that went really well, the things that we're looking to change, and how we can improve our festival and making it more accessible to as many performers as possible in our community and surrounding communities.” 

She adds they will be taking the summer off and then in fall, “we will get right back to it.” 

For now, Taylor says they are looking for volunteers and people who are willing to sit on their board.  

“Yes, we are always looking for more volunteers and people who are willing to step on board with us and help us along with the festival. We are a fully volunteered committee. We do have one administrative position, but it's quite limited. We all love the arts and grew up in the arts and we know the value of it.” 

“For us, we just really want to make sure that this opportunity is still around for our children and their friends and many generations to come. Our festival has a long history, a really strong, beautiful history, and we are always looking for people who are interested in the arts or maybe, have children or students that are a part of it as well. So, if they have any gifts and talents that they are willing to share with us, we are always more than happy to welcome some extra hands to make the load a little bit lighter.”

The 2024 Southeastern Manitoba Festival wraps up on Thursday, March 21 with the final performances of Senior Piano taking place at the Steinbach Arts Centre, 304 2nd Street, starting at 9am and wrapping up in the day with the Grades 9, 10 and Diploma Awards Night starting at 7pm.

 

Here are the 2024 SEMF class winners: 

** Senior Piano results will be posted Friday, March 22

JUNIOR PIANO RESULTS:

AWARDS:

Medal (Grade 1): Romy Friesen

Medal (Grade 2): Kayla Doerksen

Medal (Grade 3): Christian Acosta

Medal (Grade 4): Hyunwoo Lee

Medal (Piano Duet, Trio, and Ensemble - Grades 1 & 2): Naomi Goertzen & Avery Penner

SMMTA Trophy (Piano Duet, Trio, and Ensemble - Grades 3 & 4): Owen & Gritten Poettcker

 

Southeastern Manitoba Festival Trophy (Piano Solo - Grade 1 & 2): Hadassah Duerksen

 

Iris Dirks Memorial Trophy (Piano Solo - Grade 3): Emma Sophia Harder

 

Brian Kliewer Family Memorial Trophy (Piano Solo - Grade 4): Hannah Dyck

 

$50 Guenther Family Scholarship (Piano Solo - Grade 3): Keziah Honsberger

$75 SMMTA Scholarship (Piano Solo - Grade 3 & 4): Jouleen Kasper

 

PROVINCIAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

AWARDS

Primary: Olivia Roienko

Primary: Julia Tiessen

Alternate: Jayden Winter

Elementary: Emma Sophia Harder

Elementary: Keziah Honsberger

Alternate: Griffen Poettcker

 

CANADIAN COMPOSERS:

Primary: Victoria Hertes

Alternate: Romy Friesen

Elementary: Ben Boese

Alternate: Christian Acosta

 

MULTI-DISCIPLINE W.A. MOZART:

Elementary: Kaitlynn Schulz

Elementary: Hyunwoo Lee

 

 

MUSICAL THEATRE RESULTS:

Medal - Primary (12 years & under): Victoria Penner

Medal - Elementary (14 years & under): Leah Neufeld

Medal - Junior (16 years & under): Anaya Hildebrandt

Medal - Intermediate (18 years & under): No recipient

 

Three Way Builders Trophy (Musical Theatre Solo - Primary [12 years and under]): Sawyer Schmidtke

 

Heier Designs Florist Trophy (Musical Theatre Solo - Elementary [14 years and under]): Chrysshell Quives

 

Marie Reimer Memorial Trophy (Musical Theatre Solo - Junior [16 years and under]: Jayden Plett

 

J. H. Rempel Memorial Trophy (Musical Theatre Solo - Intermediate [18 years and under]): Piper Friesen

$50 Musical Theatre Scholarship (Solo - Elementary [14 years and under]): Chrysshell Quives

$75 Musical Theatre Scholarship (Solo - Junior [16 years and under]): Anaya Hildebrandt

$100 RK Electric Musical Theatre Scholarship (Solo - Intermediate [17-18 years]): Piper Friesen

 

PROVINCIAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

Primary: Sawyer Schmidtke

Primary: Victoria Penner

Elementary: Chrysshell Quives

Elementary: Leah Neufeld

Alternate: Summer Neufeld

Junior: Jayden Plett

Junior: Anaya Hildebrandt

Intermediate: Piper Friesen

Intermediate: Chasadya Koop

 

STRINGS RESULTS:

AWARDS:

Medal (Grades 1-2): Jesse Loeppky

Medal (Grades 3-6): Sarah Friesen

Medal (Grades 7-Honours): David Bergen

Lillian Toews Trophy (Strings Solo - Grades 3 to 6): Katelyn Lysak

 

Wes & Charlotte Reimer Trophy (Concerto - Grades 7 to Honours): Julianna Esau

 

Loewen Body Shop Trophy (Strings Solo - Grades 7 to Honours): Rachel Brand

$75 Strings Scholarship (Strings Solo - Grades 3 to 6, except Suzuki): Callia Barkman

$100 Strings Scholarship (Strings Solo - Grade 7 to Honours): Dalia Loewen

 

STRINGS PROVINCIAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

Junior: Katelyn Lysak

Junior: Sarah Friesen

Alternate: Ezra Brand

Intermediate: Dalia Loewen

Intermediate: David Bergen

Alternate: Elizabeth Janke

Advanced: Rachel Brand

Senior: Julianna Esau

 

CANADIAN COMPOSERS:

Primary: Jesse Loeppky

Elementary: Sophie Fillion

Junior: Katelyn Lysak

Alternate: Sarah Friesen

 

VOCAL RESULTS:

AWARDS:

Medal (Vocal Duet, Trio or Ensemble - 12 years and over): Crescendo Girls Group

Medal (Vocal Solo - Primary [11 & 12 years]): Henry Messner

Medal (Vocal Solo - Elementary [13 & 14 years]): Kaylee Gross

Medal (Vocal Solo - Junior [15 & 16 years]): Benjamin Hiebert

Medal (Vocal Solo - Grade C): Jasmine Waldner

Kelvin Goertzen Trophy (Vocal Duet, Trio or Ensemble - 12 years and over): Reese Morales & Victoria Penner

 

Smith, Neufeld, Jodoin Trophy (Vocal Solo - Primary [11 & 12 years]): Sawyer Schmidtke

 

Loewen Windows Trophy (Vocal Solo - Elementary [13 & 14 years]): Chrysshell Quives

 

Dr. Paul Peters Trophy (Vocal Solo - Junior [15 & 16 years]): Jadyn Plett

 

AM 1250 Radio Trophy (Vocal Solo - Intermediate [17 & 18 years]): Amaris Gross

$50 Vocal Coordinator’s Scholarship (Vocal Solo - Elementary [13 & 14 years]): Layla Doerksen

$75 Vocal Scholarship (Vocal Solo - Junior [15 & 16 years]): Anaya Hildebrandt

$100 Ruth Oommen Memorial Scholarship (Vocal Solo - Intermediate [17 & 18 years] and Grade C): Amaris Gross

 

VOCAL PROVINCIAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

Primary: Sawyer Schmidtke

Primary: Natalie Barkman

Alternate: Henry Messner

Elementary: Kaylee Gross

Elementary: Layla Doerksen

Alternate: Chloe Czarnecki

Junior: Benjamin Hiebert

Junior: Anaya Hildebrandt

Alternate: Jadyn Plett

Intermediate: Amaris Gross

 

CANADIAN COMPOSERS:

Primary: Monroe Audette “Forty Little Birdies”

Elementary: Chloe Czarnecki “Forty Little Birdies”

Junior: Rory Kroeker “Forty Little Birdies”

Alternate: Melissa Falk “A Litany”