Live music will flow through the Guelph Youth Music Centre Recital Hall on Sept. 17 as Guelph Musicfest’s 15th season get’s underway nearly two months after it was scheduled to commence.
The 15th season was originally slated to commence on July 9 but was pushed back four months to accommodate the provincial exit from stage 3 and allow for the details from roadmap to reopening to take effect.
This is the first time since November 2020 live music was played in the venue, and only those who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to see the show in person.
“It seems like fully vaccinating was the way to go just for the comfort of most people, and I found that of the regular customers who had bought tickets way in advance, most people cheered and said ‘yay,” said Ken Gee, pianist, founder and director of Guelph Musicfest. “As soon as I said it was going to be double vaccinated people said 'oh' like it was a big relief.”
Requiring those in attendance to be fully vaccinated was a decision Gee made before the provincial announcement of the implementation of vaccine certificates, and Gee’s mandate comes five days ahead of the provincial start on Sept. 22.
The concert series will follow the provincial guidelines to accommodate a maximum of 50 per cent capacity, however, Gee said due to the layout of the hall he is shooting for a capacity in the 40 per cent range.
“I’m squeezing in a max of 70-75 people per concert,” said Gee.
With these numbers, he said ticket sales alone won't help him break even, but due to the generosity of some local beneficiaries, he will be able to keep the show going.
Despite the lower number of tickets available for purchase, Gee said he wants to share the music with as many people as possible and has introduced a new digital MusicFest that will be free.
The concerts will be streamed live in HD and available for one week beginning Sept. 18.
To attend, guests need to “purchase” the free ticket online, with a secondary pay what you can afford option if those watching from home want to support the concert series.
“There might be the ability to get a single ticket, but basically they’re pretty hard to come by now,” Gee. “But, what I did, and this is for the very first time, is that there is still digital musicfests you can watch online, and last year I just made a high definition recording and streamed it for seven days.”
This year Gee will take that one step further and live-stream the concert.
“They were for sale, but I thought because of the donation I'm going to meet budget, so I said ‘I just want people to watch the concert, so you can have them for free,” said Gee.
The concert series kicks off with internationally acclaimed Canadian cellist Arlen Hlusko on Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
