Named to honour a Canmore pioneer who introduced band music to Bow Valley students in the 1940’s...and who taught them for over twenty years...the Vic Lewis International Band Festival has earned a reputation as one of the best non-competitive music festivals in Alberta. Over 800 students in junior high and high school bands perform for adjudicators, participate in workshops, listen to faculty recitals and give public performances during the two days and two nights of the festival. The festival takes place at Canmore Collegiate High and the Canmore Recreation Centre with evening gala performances at the Oh Canada, Eh?! Theatre.

Click HERE to view the schedules for the festival.

The Beautiful Canadian Rockies come alive with the sound of music every November when the Vic Lewis International Band Festival strikes up the bands! The fourteenth annual Festival will happen in Canmore November 6 – 8, 2009. Last year more than thirty concert bands, wind ensembles and jazz bands from across Alberta played for some of the finest band directors in North America. We are in the process of confirming this year’s guest directors so stay tuned!!!

Last year’s guest directors included Jason Chevalier from Mt. San Antonio College, Gareth Jones from the University of Calgary, Andy Ballantyne from Humber College in Toronto and Jovino Santos Neto from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle Washington. It was a fantastic festival full of wonderful music, incredible musicians and extraordinary talent from all the participants.

Vic Lewis passed away in 1999 just a few days after the close of the festival. The vibrant music community of the Bow Valley was enlivened over several decades by his many contributions and the sponsors and organizers of the Vic Lewis International Festival are pleased to celebrate his legacy with this event that serves young musicians from across Alberta.

With the valued support of our community and corporate sponsors, we are able to keep the per student registration fee to $35.