Little church leads to big festival in Belfountain

Written By KIRA WRONSKA DORWARD

The quaint little Melville White Church on Mississauga Road is a perfect location to showcase classical music talent in Caledon. Dr. Zachary Ebbin, founder of the Belfountain Music Festival and now a professor at Vanderbilt University, was driving in the country when he came upon the Church, stopping him in his tracks and calling out to him. He walked into the church with his violin and began to play, and noticed immediately the lovely acoustics the little church provided. Up until then, the church on Mississauga Road had been underused, so Ebbin contacted the Belfountain Heritage Society and proposed the location be used to its advantage as a forum for classical music, and thus the Belfountain Music Festival was born.

The intent of the festival was to bring classical music to Caledon and to work with the community and local business owners to bring people together over fine music.

It would seem the venture was a success. Now in its fifth year, the scope of the festival has evolved beyond just the playing of classical music to a crowd of ten to twenty in the church pews. As of this year, nine events are being held over two weekends in mid-August in several locations, including the Alton Mill, the Belfountain Old Mill, and the Georgetown Piano Hall.

The Belfountain Music Festival has also begun to diversify the range of entertainment offered and provide some variety to suit different musical tastes.

This year's festival was opened to great acclaim on Friday August 10th by the Celtic band The Interpreters, who performed for sixty concert-goers on the banks of the Credit River at the Belfountain Old Mill. Sunday the 12th saw singer-songwriters Stephanie Tulloch and James Turner play an afternoon quartet concert of all movie music at the Alton Mill.

Three concerts are being offered this weekend at various locations. Saturday August 18th at 2 pm at the Georgetown Piano Hall will feature a special recital by pianist Emily Rho and Toronto Symphony Orchestra cellist Britt Riley. Also on Saturday at 7 pm in the Belfountain Community Hall, the Golden Country Classics Band, made up of all local farmers and residents, will be playing classic country music.

Sunday's 2 pm feature of Erin native and soprano Emily Vondrejs, has unfortunately been cancelled due to illness, but the 7 pm program at the Mellville White Church will showcase pianist Ron Greidanus, who will close the festival with a program of Russian masterworks, including five spectacular piano Etudes by Rachmaninov and the stunning and monumental Tanayev piano quintet.

These events are not to be missed by music lovers. Tickets for adults are $20 and can be ordered from the Belfountain Music Festival website at belfountainmusic.ca.  Tickets for seniors, students, and art workers can also be purchased for $15. All other information can be found on the website or the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/belfountainmusic/.

The organizers of the event would like to give special thanks to the Belfountain Heritage Society and their sponsors, without whom the event would not be possible.  For the future, the Belfountain Music Festival is looking to spread out In the community and find more venues to collaborate with, but they emphasize that the current support from local businesses has been fantastic. Come out this weekend, music lovers, and find yourself in like company in your own backyard.