Last weekend saw the Brandon Festival of the Arts kick off its 2026 season with this year’s guitar classes, and as usual, Paolo finished the day feeling very proud of his students. Congratulations to all performers – public performance is nothing to take lightly! Special kudos to this year’s award winners:
- Pattison Media Scholarship: Q Country 91.5 and 94.7 Star FM Preliminary Guitar Scholarship: Fotina Hehn
- McDonald’s Restaurants Junior Guitar Scholarship: Dexx Wilson
- Faders Music Classical Guitar Ensemble Scholarship: Marc Strang, Matthew Van Heyst, Dexx Wilson, Avalon Belke, Lucas Blaikie
- Ted Good Music Trophy: Matthew Van Heyst
Guitar Adjudicator Guy Michaud made the trip out from Winnipeg, gracing us with his positive, supportive vibe and his astute musical insights. Merçi, Guy!
In other news…. The following is from the Canada.ca website: “At the stroke of noon on February 15, 1965, Canada’s red and white maple leaf flag was raised for the very first time on Parliament Hill. On the same day in 1996, National Flag of Canada Day was declared.” (https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-flag-canada-day.html)
It’s not always been the perfect country, but show me the one that is. As far as home goes, I think I’d be hard-pressed to find a better one. Bonne Année, mon Drapeau!