After participating in the Bow Valley Music Festival, held March 18-22 in Canmore, 12-year-old Soren Lorentzen has learned he qualified for the Alberta Music Festival Association Provincials in the 12-and-under strings class. Lorentzen was not alone; Cochrane’s Lara Stewart qualified for 12-and-under vocal class and Aubrey Baux qualifed as the alternate in the same class as well.
Lorentzen, the young violin player from Cochrane, put in months of practise for the piece he performed at the event. “You would never know,” his mother, Delynne Lorentzen, said. According to Delynne, Soren practises at least an hour and a half every day, waking up at 5:45 a.m. on school days.
The news was all the sweeter because Soren played despite a sore hand received from a dog bite, his mom said.
Participants enter into classes and are based on categories of instruments as well as style. They then perform their own piece and are given feedback and a certificate of participation by an adjudicator after performing. Delynne notes that adjudicators then recommend participants for provincials.
Soren has been playing violin for seven years. His younger brother, Laec, also musically inclined, plays cello.
According to the festival’s website, the event “exists to provide music students with an opportunity to perform before their peers, family and friends in an encouraging master-class atmosphere.”
“It’s a really nice deal,” Delynne said. “They encourage participation at all levels.”
