Quinte Rotary Music Festival

Last week was the 40th Anniversary of the Quinte Rotary Music Festival. Every year at the end of the week is the final Silver Competition which is the best of the singers, pianists, string players from the week competing for the top award in their category. I remember when I was in high school I competed in the Rose Bowl Competition and....lost. I will never forget that night. Nor will I forget the same night 6 years later when I was awarded the William Gardner Connor Scholarship for advanced vocal studies. The wait was worth it!

This year I had the privilege once again of performing on that fateful Friday night of the festival - now as a guest not to be judged but to strictly entertain and inspire. The strange thing was that I experienced the same butterflies and the same sick-to-my-stomach feeling I had over 10 years ago as a student. It was a revelation that no matter how far you get in your career, a return to the place that started it all can relive feelings and sensations you thought you had gotten over. It just proves that we never “get over” anything but change the form of how we experience it in our bodies and minds.