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Parents, teachers, sponsors and friends were all treated to a delightful afternoon of classical piano tunes at the Gala & Award Ceremony 2008 held on Sunday April 27th, 2008 at the Markham Theatre for Performing Arts. Despite a late start, the audience was very enthusiastic and spontaneous to the performances and the presentation.

Several awards including medals and trophies were handed out to class winners during the award presentation and every prize recipient walked away with joy and a sense of achievement. The highlight of the afternoon came when all trophy winners gathered on stage for a group picture at the end of the ceremony. The five lucky prize draws brought the show to a climatic conclusion.

As in the past, we would like to extend our gratitude to TD Canada Trust (Presenting Sponsor), Tour East Holidays (Gold Sponsor) and Locher Evers International (Silver Sponsor) for being our main sponsors. It is the active participation of our sponsors and the generous donations from friends and parents that allow us to continue this great local tradition and realize our mission of nurturing musical talents in our growing community, and the Markham Music Festival Committee is indeed grateful and appreciative for that as the festival would not have been possible without their generous support over the years.

This year, we are very honoured to have Frank Scarpitti, Mayor of Town of Markham and Tony Wong, Regional Councillor in attendance in support of our event. Also in attendance to celebrate our thirteenth anniversary event were Henry Kwong (Regional Vice President of TD Canada Trust, Paul Rizzi (TD Canada Trust Branch Manager), David Lee (RCM Operation Manager), Judienne Schoen (RCM examiner and MMF 2008 adjudicator), Henry Lee (Euromusic), James Lin (World Journal, Marketing Director), Redmond Lee (Sing Tao Daily) and Kenneth Ng (Ming Pao Newspaper). Once again, our sincere thanks go to Rita Tsang, President and Chief Executive of Tour East Holidays for her generous prize donation of a round-trip ticket to Asia valued CAD$2,000. The grand prize goes to the Markham Music Festival Trophy winner Leonard Gilbert.

Leonard Gilbert receiving the Markham Music Festival Trophy from Henry Kwong (Regional Vice President of TD Canada Trust)

Biography of MMF Trophy winner Leonard Gilbert

Leonard Gilbert, who won 1st place in both the Grade 11(ARCT) Chopin class and the Open Age Achievement class is the recipient of the prestigious Markham Music Festival Trophy this year.

Born in Toronto in 1990, Leonard Gilbert began piano lessons at the age of six and gave his first public recital a year later. Leonard has won numerous awards and scholarships in his young and promising career, most notably three times the winner of the Canadian Music Competition, a prize winner in the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, and this past year winner of the President’s Trophy Award at the Toronto Kiwanis Festival. He also captured the Best of Festival Award at the Markham Music Festival this year.

Leonard was the youngest performer at last year’s Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival. His immense talent caught the attention of Menahem Pressler and Andre Laplante in their master classes, and he was singled out to perform at the Rising Stars benefit concert.

This fall, Leonard will be attending the Jacob School of Music at Indiana University where he received academic and music scholarships to study with Menahem Pressler. Presently, he is under the tutelage of Canadian pianist Patricia Parr.

We all at Markham Music Festival wish to extend our most sincere gratitude to all participating sponsors and donors of this great musical event for their continued support and congratulate all winners of the MMF 2008 music competition for their outstanding achievement.

Markham Music Festival 2009 is tentatively scheduled to run in April 2009. Winners from respective classes and/or categories will be invited to the Gala Concert and Award Ceremony 2009. Date and location to be announced later. Application and syllabus for MMF 2009 will be available by late October 2008. Entry deadline is February 8th, 2009.

Markham Music Festival Gala Concert 2008