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 Cornerstone Theatre.

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 Fifteenth annual Festival will happen in Canmore November 4 – 6, 2011. Last year more than thirty concert bands, wind ensembles and jazz bands from across Alberta and British Columbia played for some of the finest band directors in North America. 

We are very excited to announce the guest directors for the 2011 Vic Lewis Band Festival. Dr. Robert Taylor, Director of Wind Bands at the University of British Columbia, Wayne Jeffrey, Director of Ensembles at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia, Scott Brown, jazz trombonist on faculty at Seattle Schools in Seattle Washington and Alan Matheson, jazz trumpet, piano, arranger & composer on faculty at Vancouver Community College and Capilano College in British Columbia. As their biographies indicate, these fine educators and musicians bring an incredible amount of experience to this year’s festival. We are very excited to have them aboard!

Past guest directors have included such notable musicians as Randy Halberstadt from Cornish College in Washington, Vern Dorge from Humber College in Toronto, Dr. Fraser Linklater from the University of Manitoba and Christopher Bianco from Western Washington University.

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 $40.