Applications for the 2026 Festival for Strings is now open. Deadline: December 21, 2025, 11:59 PM
Festival Dates: Monday Feb 2 – Friday Feb 6, 2026
Celebration Recital: Saturday, Feb 7 at 7 PM
VSO School of Music Festival for Strings Syllabus 2026
The VSO School of Music Festival for Strings is a non-competitive opportunity in which VSO School of Music students at RCM and Suzuki Levels pre Grade 1 to ARCT play for an experienced professional in a small class (6 per level) and receive valuable performance notes and a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal award.
Participants 18 years and under will be grouped into classes by RCM grade level, then repertoire style. Those 19 years and over will be grouped into separate “adult” classes, which will be divided by level. Students may enter one or two contrasting solo pieces and there is also the option for student chamber groups to enter the movement of a chamber work.
Select gold medalists are invited to perform on a final Celebration Recital the Saturday following the Festival. Scholarship support is awarded based on adjudicator feedback.
The Festival is open to the public, who are invited to attend any class as part of the audience.
Adjudicator for the 2026 Festival for Strings is Simon MacDonald:
Violinist Simon MacDonald began studying the violin in Victoria in 1980 and decided to pursue it professionally after performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 1990–91. He earned degrees from the New England Conservatory (BMus 1996) and McGill University (MMus 1998). Simon has performed across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Russia, holding key positions with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and Regina Symphony Orchestra. A passionate collaborator, he has premiered numerous works at the Winnipeg New Music Festival, launched Regina’s first Beethoven Quartet Cycle, and performed in ensembles ranging from Baroque groups to Broadway tours. From 2017–2024, he served as Head of Strings and Artistic Director of the Young Artists Collegium at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, in the footsteps of one of his first teachers, Sydney Humphreys, who was the first head of strings of the VCM. Now based in Victoria, Simon teaches privately and performs widely throughout British Columbia.
This program is generously supported by:
The Höing Family Scholarship Fund