In 1908, with the help of musicians Vernon Barford and Howard Stutchbury, Edmonton staged the first regional musical festival in North America. One hundred musicians competed in 11 classical categories. A music festival was held annually in Edmonton from 1908 through 1917. In 1918, Calgary, Edmonton, and Lethbridge agreed to follow the same syllabus and rotate the provincial festival between the three cities. With many more local festival organizations forming in municipalities across Alberta in the years following, the Alberta Music Festival Association was officially incorporated as a Society in 1964.

 

Today, the Alberta Music Festival Association (AMFA) is made up of 37 Local Member Festivals. These Local Member Festivals send their top competitors to the annual Alberta Provincial Festival in a variety of disciplines such as voice, piano, speech, and a number of other instrumental classes. AMFA meetings are held once a year. A copy of AMFA's bylaws (pdf format) may be downloaded HERE. Anyone desiring information about the festival movement should contact an AMFA Executive Member.

 
AMFA Mission Statement: To promote and develop music and speech arts in Alberta through performance and workshop style adjudication.

To accomplish this purpose,

• AMFA plans and presents the annual Provincial Festival for competition among local festival representatives

• AMFA offers assistance to the Local Member Festivals

• AMFA publishes the annual Syllabus 

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For more information about our activities, please explore our website. Questions can be directed to AMFA's Provincial Administrator (contact available below).