Hamilton Music Festival boasts scholarships and abundance of talent

The Hamilton Music Festival is underway, and organizers say they’re preparing to give out $40,000 worth of scholarships to winners in the event that’s drawn over 1,300 entries this year.

The Hamilton Music Festival is a friendly competition that gives amateur musicians from across the province and of all ages the opportunity to show off their talents and love for music.

“Honestly, it’s a really fun experience and it has a lot of different opportunities. And I love meeting all the new people.”

“I have been preparing this competition since around September. I love expressing myself in ways that you’re not able to without words.”

“It’s an opportunity for me to express myself through my music,” say various festival participants.

This year the event is being held at three different venues: First Hamilton Christian Reformed Church, Westdale United Church and First Unitarian Church of Hamilton.

Piano and string competitions were up first on the schedule, but that’s just two of the categories.

“A colleague of mine and good friend, Tom Oliver, we together founded this music festival in 2016. We started then with just piano, voice and musical theater, but it has now grown to include strings, woodwinds and classical guitar and music, music writing as well,” says festival co-founder Diane Manojlovich.

Participants are judged by experts in their field from across Ontario. Manojlovich says this year they plan on giving away $40,000 in scholarships to over 100 participants, which is similar to last year.

“Last year, I think we gave out over $40,000 in scholarships. These are primarily donated by members of our community, businesses and individuals,” says Manojlovich.

The competition is normally two weeks, but this year it’s four weeks. And that’s because of the growth.

“It’s grown leaps and bounds. We started with just over 300 entries and we’re now up to 1,329,” adds Manojlovich.

“It’s gotten bigger over the years for sure,” says a volunteer.

Manojlovich says the music festival is a great way for musicians to build community and hone their skills.

“Adjudicators, judges, experts in their field will be listening to all of the performances or offering wonderful critique, helpful advice, things that they liked about the performance, things that they should improve on.”

“This is an amazing, great opportunity to be able to get very helpful and insightful feedback from professionals,” says a festival participant.

While the deadline has passed for entries, the public is welcome to view competitions at the various venues.