Emily Fowler Wins Canadian National Music Festival Competition Story and Photo by Michael Chipman
	RELATED STORY Violinist Emily Fowler Wins Top Prize at Kiwanis Music Festival		In August, violinist Emily Fowler, a junior from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and student of Almita Vamos, won first place in the Canadian National Music Festival Competition held in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "The competition is held every year in a different place in Canada," says Fowler. "Each province holds a provincial competition and the first place winners from each category compete for prizes in the national competition." Competition categories included strings, voice, piano, winds, brass and chamber music, with each contestant performing for one hour. Fowler won the grand prize at the Kiwanis Music Festival in Calgary earlier this year, which qualified her to participate in the Alberta Provincial festival in June. She won the Grand award (for the third time) which led to participation in the National Festival, held in August, where she won first place in the strings division. "There were about nine people in the strings division: all provinces were represented except Prince Edward Island," says Fowler. "I performed Sibelius' violin concerto and Bach C major solo sonata. Playing for an hour is an endurance test because you don't get much of a break in-between the two pieces. Also, the competition is at a much higher level." The competition lasted for two days and Fowler performed on the evening of the first day. An adjudication workshop followed on the third day when first place winners were announced. First place winners performed at a gala concert that evening and judges announced all other winners in each category. First place winners received a cash award of $1,500 Canadian. Fowler studies with Almita Vamos, professor of violin. She describes Fowler's work this way: "Emily is a very fine violinist. She has a wonderful technique and plays convincingly and very musically. She has intensity, and phrases lyrically and always with taste." Winning this competition was only one part of a very busy summer for Fowler. She also performed the Sibelius violin concerto with the CBC Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, a free, open-air community concert held in a suburban park outside of Vancouver. Fowler then returned to Oberlin to perform with the Baroque Performance Institute for a classical chamber music week. She then returned to Calgary for a China-Canada exchange festival called "The Music Bridge." "It was a busy summer," says Fowler. "I came back to school exhausted, but it was all really good."
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