CDMFhonourslongtimeleaderThelkaWright

More than 400 young pianists and thespians will be in Port Coquitlam this and next week to compete for a place in a provincial contest

The 70th annual CDMF Performing Arts Festival opens Saturday (March 25) and runs for its second year at the Riverside Community Church until March 31

The honours concert is on April 2 to highlight the CDMF winners who will advance to Performing Arts BC in Penticton

For this year’s CDMF, the executive team eliminated the vocal component to concentrate on disciplines with a higher number of entries namely, piano and speech arts, said vice president Susan Greening; however, it hopes to bring voice/musical theatre back once fundraising returns to normal levels, she said

Adjudicators are being brought in from Toronto, Saskatoon, Calgary and Kelowna to assess the CDMF competitors:

• Carol McFadden (junior piano) holds ARCT diplomas in piano performance and voice from the Royal Conservatory of Music

• Helen Torney (interme- diate piano) has ARCT diplomas in piano performance and piano pedagogy from the Royal Conservatory of Music, fellowship and licentiate diplomas from Trinity College of Music (London, England) and a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Western Ontario

• Derek Zhi Guang Chiu (senior piano) is the threetime winner of the Steinway & Sons top piano teacher award in Calgary and has performed in Canada, U S and Europe

• Sydney Sengotta (speech arts) has an ACTL diploma in performing speech and drama from Trinity College of London; he previously taught at Coquitlam’s Place des Arts

Meanwhile, CDMF will award its inaugural scholarship in memory of Thelka Wright, a longtime festival organizer who died last month

To hear the musicians perform at Riverside Community Church (2329 Fremont Conn., Port Coquitlam), you can drop in after 9:30 a.m. To check festival dates and times or to volunteer, visit cdmffestival.ca.