Sven Heyde

A huge congratulations to all the fantastic students who auditioned for Legally Blonde. That show begins rehearsal in February for a run in May. This fall student director Clara MacLeod continues to be busy with Willy Wonka, Jr., a McKim Middle School production. That show runs December 11-13 at McKim Theatre. Tickets will be available mid-November. The Selkirk Concert Band is off to Canmore for the Vic Lewis Band Festival November 1-3, which is a highly enjoyable, educational festival. The Band and Choir will give their season opener at McKim Theatre on November 6th at 7 pm. 80’s Night! is the the theme, and appropriate attire is welcome.

Legally Blonde Auditions are fast-approaching. All necessary rehearsal materials are on this website under the Legally Blonde page. Please make sure to practice singing along to the piano-only recording of the pieces once you’ve learned them so that you can be comfortable doing that for your audition.

We are pleased to announce that next year’s Selkirk musical will be Legally Blonde, which will open April 30th, 2014. Also, for the first time ever, there will be a student-dicrected musical next year. Clara MacLeod will be directing Willy Wonka Jr. at McKim, which opens December 11th at McKim Theatre. Selkirk Music students have their year-end concert on June 12th at 7:00 pm at McKim Theatre, and McKim Music students have their year-end concert at 1:10 on Monday, June 24th.

Both music programs have some exciting times ahead. At Selkirk we are in the planning stages for next year’s musical, and are putting together a recruitment concert for the McKim grade 7s in April. Selkirk students are also on their way to Calgary in May to see the CPO perform the soundtrack to The Fellowship of the Ring, live with the film. McKim students are working on new pieces for their year-end concert.

Les Mis opens at McKim Theatre this week. Go out and get your tickets at McKim School office in Kimberley or Lotus Books in Cranbrook. Shows on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 7:30 pm. Shows on Saturday at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm. It’s going to be an incredible show.

I played my last gig for the foreseeable future in mid-December, and am now focusing my musical energies elsewhere. School musicals take a lot of time, and I would like to keep doing those. I have several pieces of composition on the go, including my first Concert Band piece, which is almost complete, a choral arrangement, which is still floating around in my head, and the faintest whisperings of a musical I’d like to write some day.

Rehearsals for Les Mis are well underway, and we have got a tremendously talented cast. A reminder that I’ll be regularly emailing parents of younger students, and high school students directly, with updates on rehearsal schedules and preparation tips. The music for the whole show is online here.

I’m excited to be producing and directing the music for Les Misérables this year, an SD6 production. The show will run at McKim Theatre from February 13-16, 2013. Auditions are September 11th at 3:00 for elementary students, and September 12th and 13th beginning at 3:30 for Selkirk students. If you’re looking for resources to help you prepare for your audition, follow the Les Mis link above, or click here.

After a long hiatus I’ll be playing a few shows this fall with Redgirl. We’re also starting to book a few shows with The Jazz Council. At school, we’ve booked Les Misérables for February 13-16, for 5 shows. Auditions in September.

I’m looking forward to a show with the Symphony of the Kootenays later in June at the St. Eugene Mission. The Jazz Council will be continuing our monthly gig at Ric’s Lounge in Cranbrook throughout the summer (first Friday of every month). We’ve also started working on tour dates for the fall, and I’m working on a couple dates with Redgirl as well, which I’m very excited about, as I haven’t gigged with that group since the fall.