Horrocks said she plans to use the winnings to provide her 15 students with sheet music to help them “build their music libraries” with leftover funds going towards performance equipment. “But when my mom told me this morning, I was definitely so excited.”įiddelium was up against nine other classes from Nova Scotia, Ontario, B.C., Prince Edward Island and Manitoba for the award and was also a Top 10 finalist in the Community Music Class category. “I didn’t really mind if we won or not because I was really happy with the end result of the video,” she said. She said they put a lot of work into memorizing both the music and choreography. “Because it was Trish who really put together the sheet music for us to play and got all those harmonies together.”įellow Fiddelium fiddler Mieka Schneidereit, 14, said she was optimistic about her group’s chances. “It just highlights the fact that Fiddelium’s a really great ensemble and Trish and are so good at what they do,” Olivia said. Her mother Nicola said “it was one of the biggest smiles I’ve seen on her at 7:15 a.m.” “They worked so hard and in a year that has been, I think, emotionally really hard and has left people feeling really isolated it’s extra special that they were recognized.”įiddelium member Olivia Crowhurst, 15, heard the news first thing in the morning from her parents. Just so proud,” Fiddelium co-director Trish Horrocks said. In her commentary, judge Julie Nesrallah praised the group’s “poise, beauty of tone and … sensitive sense of ensemble.”
The group will receive $3,000 and a plaque. 15 the winners of the national contest were announced and Cross Canada Fiddle’s Fiddelium class won first prize in the Junior Instrumental (Grades 7 to 10) category for its rendition of Oscar Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom. For the second year in a row Nanaimo’s Cross Canada Fiddle music education program is a first place finisher in the CBC’s Canadian Music Class Challenge.