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MusicFest Northwest brings classical music and dance

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After a three-year pandemic hiatus, a renowned classical music festival has returned to Spokane.

MusicFest Northwest brings about 800 student entrants from across the region to Gonzaga University this week to compete and collaborate.

“It gives us a chance to celebrate music at all ages, all skill levels and just have a chance to come together,” festival director Nicole Sonbert said, explaining the motto “Connect. Create. Celebrate.”

Solo and small groups perform in the fine art categories of ballet, brass, flute, piano, reed, string and voice.

The adjudicators, who are professional musicians from across the country, give students constructive feedback in workshops.

The festival includes children as young as 6, adult amateurs and advanced college students.

It’s all about the love of music. The root of the word amateur means “lover of,” said board president Jody Graves, a pianist who grew up playing in the festival.

The annual event was founded in 1945 by Spokane music teacher Josephine Clark to celebrate the end of World War II.

“She wanted to bring something beautiful to the community, something that garnered peace and joy,” Graves said.

Now the festival is returning to celebrate after another major world event.

“Even during COVID, people were singing out of the balconies to make some sense out of it,” Graves said. “There’s nothing better than live music.”

The festival offers free concerts to the public.

The Young Artist Concert will feature winners of the young artist competition who will perform with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Fox Theater downtown.

Friday night will be the Festival Highlights Concert at the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center on the Gonzaga campus. Free tickets can be reserved at gonzaga.edu/ticketcenter.

For those who can’t attend a live concert, KPBX 91.1 Spokane Public Radio will feature selected performers live from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday through Friday this week.

Music is essential to being human, Graves said. “It is a center point of every healthy culture on the planet.”

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