President's Message

Since 1970 the Alberta International Band Festivals have provided a performance platform for members of school and community bands from throughout Alberta and beyond.

The Festivals are undertaken by Edmonton and Calgary based volunteer music educators, parents and members of the business community to provide a performance and education experience for concert bands and jazz ensembles. Many of our outstanding professional musicians and music educators performed at the Festivals as students.

Over the past 38 years, the Festivals have grown dramatically. They now attract over 300 bands with more than 16,000 participants from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and the northern United States. The majority of our participants are junior and senior high school bands, with a steady increase of adult community bands.

The overall success of the Festivals and its participants is directly linked to the positive educational values and philosophies developed. This overall success is drawn from the sharing of support, advice and camaraderie established since the Festivals’ inception.

Our adjudicators are top professional musicians and educators and are drawn from major universities, colleges, music schools in Alberta, Canada and North America. They are often featured performers at our showcase concerts.

Calgary 2008 Festival Dates are:

Concert Bands: February 20 – 26, 2008
University of Calgary

Jazz Bands: February 20 – 23, 2008
Leacock Theatre — Mount Royal College

Beginning Bands: March 19 – 20, 2008
Ernest Manning High School

Edmonton 2008 Festival Dates are: March 10 – 14, 2008

Concert Bands
TransAlta Arts Barn

Jazz Bands
Cosmopolitan Music Society

The Tommy Banks Award will be presented on Wednesday March 12th, 2008 at the AIBF Edmonton Feature Concert at the TransAlta Arts Barn in Edmonton. The award recognizes the achievements of Music Directors and Students participating in Junior and Senior High School band programs in Alberta. The winner will receive a cheque for $ 2500 and a Roy Leadbeater sculpture from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

The Alberta International Band Festival Association is a federally registered charity and a provincial non-profit society governed by a Board of Directors drawn from the community. The Association’s mandate is to further enrich the education of young Albertans/Canadians and to build audiences for music.

John K. Nikel — President

The John K. Nikel Scholarship