Back to Back: PRISMA to Kathaumixw

qathet's two biggest international music festivals are back to back with each other, with PRISMA running June 12-28 and Kathaumixw, July 4-8

PRISMA co-founder and artistic director, Arthur Arnold

Photographed in May 2023 in Vijlen, Netherlands

Kathaumixw organizing committee chairperson, Steven Cramaro

Photographed in May 2023 in the Cowichan Valley

Thousands of musicians, music enthusiasts, young people and masters are coming to experience it all. Hopefully, you’re planning to take it in, too.

Experience the joy and magic of PRISMA Back

BY ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT

When the first note is played at the 11th annual PRISMA Festival in Powell River on June 12, world renowned artists and top international music students will embark on a classical music journey of learning and performing.

Although PRISMA (Pacific Region International Summer Music Association) is a classical musical academy for professional musicians, top students, and diverse audiences, it’s also a community festival.

“I think it’s important in the time we live in with all the conflicts, to connect people and spread harmony worldwide,” said Arthur Arnold, PRISMA’s artistic director and co-founder. While news reports share information about the war in Ukraine, Arthur says the job of musicians is different. “Musicians do the opposite. When you play music, you give to people, you draw them in, you connect, it’s so powerful.”

He pauses, then says: “Imagine Rembrandt made an actual description of how a group of people might paint The Night Watch (his largest and most famous painting) and how they could paint it right in front of your eyes. It would say things like, ‘You do this at this point with this colour.’ Like an orchestra musician does, we paint the picture that is hidden in this book.”

“When I open this book I can hear what is inside but to bring it to life you need an orchestra of at least 80 people that have practised for tens of thousands of hours who have mastered their instruments and are playing on high quality instruments. To hear a live symphony is quite a miracle. A lot of ingredients have to come together at that moment to make this happen.”

There will be several opportunities to hear “gorgeous music,” brought to life by PRISMA musicians. With daily orchestra and chamber music performances there’s also the opportunity to enjoy PRISMA Masterclasses with Limelight Concerts at the beginning and end of each Masterclass.

“I feel that in the Masterclass, you have the opportunity to look in the kitchen behind the scene and observe. It is interesting hearing the teachers suggest how to improve. You hear a student struggle through a passage and can see into the life of that student.” Then you see how that student develops into a professional musician which is what PRISMA (on the Academy side) is all about.”

Arthur says the growth students experience here is magical. “We create a safe environment for students to discover and grow,” says Arthur adding that students feel that support and help each other instead of competing.

PRISMA’s free concert at Willingdon Beach is always a community favourite. This year’s theme, Serenade by the Sea, opens at 5 pm for food vendors with music starting at 6 pm.

The event will feature famous classical pieces that most people have heard of in a beautiful outdoor setting, says Arthur. The beach concert provides families with an opportunity to introduce their children to classical music while enjoying a feast of music, food and friendship. As for the musicians, they enjoy giving back to the community.

“Every year we work with the Tla’amin Nation to open the concert,” says Arthur. “At first it was the Nation presenting their music and then we began collaborating.”

In the end, says Arthur, it’s the audience that makes it so special for the musicians. “We need to play for an audience. We need an audience that is willing to come and sit down and take it all in.”

And PRISMA has found that in Powell River. “I have conducted in a lot of places in the world, and I do not know of another small, isolated community that keeps a program alive and allows it to grow like Powell River does,” he says gratefully.

This community is special, he says, sharing how excited students are when someone stops and talks to them while they are walking down a street in Powell River and says they enjoyed listening to them play yesterday.

For more information on the different concerts, Masterclasses and Limelight Concerts please visit prismafestival.com

Kathaumixw 101 A newcomers’ guide to qathet’s supreme spectacle

BY PIETA WOOLLEY

If you, like thousands of others, have moved to qathet in the past few years, you might not understand the scale or significance of Kathaumixw. How could you? Until you experience it yourself, it’s impossible to truly glean. But I’ll give it my best shot:

The basics

The International Choral Kathawmixw (which means “A gathering together of different peoples” in ayajuthem) happens July 4 to 8 at venues around town. The biggest moments are the Gala Opening and Gala Closing concerts, which bookend it. They’re at the Great Hall at the Rec Complex. There is also an awards concert, and 15 other concerts, which are ticketed. Entry to all competitions are by donation.

You can expect to see and hear local talent, plus choirs from across Canada and the USA, plus Venezuela and Uganda. Choirs range in size from six singers to dozens.

Kathaumixw is governed by its own non-profit society, and is organized by the Powell River Academy of Music.

Of course a huge choral fest would happen here

qathet has a legacy of choral music, which includes choirs from the early days of the Mill, Tla’amin Singers & Nunkum Dancers, church choirs, community choirs, and of course, the formal choral programs at the Academy of Music, from pre-schoolers to seniors.

Those who have led this region’s music programs tend towards the big visions: Kathaumixw, PRISMA, Townsite Jazz, Carols by Candlelight, and much more.

Kathaumixw’s origin story

It was a project of Don James (the music director of the Powell River Academy of Music) and Dal Matterson, his friend, and the Festival’s first chairman. Since then, it’s happened every second year – minus the COVID break.

Carvings travel to the winners’ home countries

At the Opening Gala July 4, this year’s paddle, carved by Tla’amin artist Craig Galligos, will be revealed.

Recent past carvings have gone to New York, Slovenia and Hong Kong – they are received by the winner of the “Choir of the World Kathaumixw Award,” which is chosen from the performances of the first place winners during the Kathaumixw Awards Concert and is presented to the winning choir at the Gala Closing Concert.

It’s big. No really. It’s massive.

Since 1984, the festival has grown from 400 singers to about 1,000. This year, there are 16 choirs from out of town coming to perform, six local choirs, plus the Kathaumixw Brass Ensemble, which includes professional musicians from around BC and qathet.