The Brentwood College music program has won several national honours for its bands and choirs, including the Acouschicks, the Jazz Band, and the Intermediate Rock Band, which is a pretty remarkable accomplishment under the circumstances of the pandemic and having to social distance and wear masks and most likely not being able to have everyone in the same room.

The Head of the Music program Phil News said in a press release, “It’s not easy running choirs and bands in the middle of a pandemic… somehow, we have managed to keep going despite these obstacles, resulting in much success for our efforts.” The school’s bands and choirs like Acouschicks and the Jazz Band etc., entered some festivals this year, having to record performances and submitting them as opposed to usually packing up and traveling to these festivals and performing live in person.

The AcousChicks won an Adjudicators Choice Award for Senior Vocal Jazz Ensemble at the Victoria Festival for the Performing Arts. At the West Coast Choir Festival, the Pitches Vocal Ensemble won a silver rating. The AcousChicks won a gold rating. The Jazz Band, AcousChicks, and all three of the Brentwood rock bands received gold. On top of these festivals, Pitches Vocal Ensemble, the Jazz Band, and the AcousChicks won gold, silver, and silver, respectively, at Musicfest Canada this year. Three individuals also received National Honour Awards for their individual contributions to their ensembles Justin, Peju, and Ally.

If you want to see these award-winning ensembles, you can tune into the Musicfest Canada live stream on May 24th and 26th at 2:30 p.m.
The directors of the ensembles, Phil News, Mandy Bryant, and Scott McGill, also wanted to give a thank you to Mike Minckler for his filming and recording of the ensembles and bands to be submitting to these festivals.