FEST 2010
The 50th Kiwanis Music Festival will soon be upon us.This is a great achievement and we will be having a special concert to celebrate this success in May of 2010 that you will hear more about as the year moves on.

For those that had the opportunity to attend the Stars of the Festival Concert that was held May 27th, 2009, you know what a great night that was. When you see a show like this, it shows us what has been accomplished with the great music education we have in London and the surrounding area to produce the type of musicians that we hear at the Stars Concert. Both the participants and the audience tell us, it is the highlight of the festival.

The Stars Concert would not take place without the hard work of many volunteers who pull it together. This past year David Hall coordinated the event and we sincerely thank Dave and all his volunteers for making this night possible!

I would like to highlight some new items for this year's Festival. Our website has been upgraded www.kiwanismusicfestivallondon.com which is easier to use. You can also register online and this year, registrations close December 5, 2009.

We have a new Piping and Drumming section that will be held on April 10th. We are working with the Western Branch of the Pipers and Pipe Band Socity to help make it a success. See the list of Piping and Drumming events on Page 52 of the printed Syllabus.

The second Lois Marshall Memorial Vocal Competition was a real hit and we are happy to announce that it will be back again with two substantial awards associated with it:
1st place receives $2,500 and 2nd place will receive $1,200. This is a great day for vocal music and not to be missed.

There are many people who get involved to make this festival happen. Each of our 12 Board members and the committees they have in place makes the festival happen year aft year. They give freely of their time and without their help and effort, our festival would not take place. There are two individuals who do the bulk of the work during the year in preparing the Syllabus and Program and organizing each of the festival events. They are Charlotte Cleland and Patricia Barrett. When you see Charlotte, Pat or any of the Board members, pleases take the time to let them know how much you appreciate their efforts. A sincere thank you to all those that make it happen!

I am looking forward to seeing you at the festival in the spring which will be here before we know it.

Jim Scott
Festival Chair