The Ontario Music Educators Association is holding its annual conference in London Friday and Saturday and will feature performances by faculty, clinicians and students from the Don Wright Faculty of Music.
In addition to several faculty members and clinicians participating in the conference, the Wind Ensemble and Percussion Ensemble are performing two concerts Friday, and are being used as the ‘lab” band for conducting clinics Saturday. The conference is held at the Hilton London Ontario and the London Convention Centre.
On Friday night there will be a special Western Alumni reception, as many music teachers are Western grads.
The closing concert for the OMEA conference will be held Saturday and is Western’s annual Choral Celebration. It is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at First-St. Andrew’s United Church.
There will also be a tribute to the late Deral Johnson, founder of Western’s elite choral program. His family is travelling from across the United States to attend the event.
The 2009-10 Alumni Wall of Fame recipients will be honoured during the Saturday event. Among the recipients is music grad Stephan Moccio, who wrote the 2010 Vancouver Olympics theme song.
Other recipients include: acting dean of Education, Carol Beynon; Jeans n’ Classics creater Peter Brennan; musician Bill Gilday; executive director of the National Youth Orchestra Barbara Smith; Chicago conductor Francesco Milioto; University of Victoria professor and pianist Arthur Rowe, pianist; and Carleton University professor and composer Patrick Cardy.
More information is available at www.music.uwo.ca.
