2022-07-24 - The Okanagan Guitar Festival is Launched in Kelowna
Long-time VCGS President and UBC instructor Alec Pearson had always loved Kelowna and wanted to start a guitar festival there. So, in 2022, the first in-person Okanagan Guitar Festival was held from July 22-24. It featured a strong cast of current and former BC talent - Alec Pearson, Daniel Bolshoy, Luis Medina, Alan Liu, Alan Rinehart and Kevin Robinson and a co-hort of student guitarists taking workshops and masterclasses. The festival received a warm welcome from the community with articles in the local media and interview on CBC Kelowna. The three concerts held at the beautiful old St Michael’s Cathedral in downtown Kelowna were well attended by the Kelowna audience . This past summer marked the 5th Okanagan Guitar Festival with Alec Pearson, Vivian Chen, Tejay Liao, Catherine Huo and Simon Farintosh. Despite wildfires and smokey skies, the three concerts enjoyed record attendance.
You can read an article about the first festival published in the Kelowna Courier here.
Fun Fact: The original premiere date for the festival was set for the summer of 2020 but was cancelled by COVID. Even though the in person event did not happen, Alec decided to perform the concerts via Livestream. The events were well viewed online and the audio from the events can still be listened to through the links below, or even on streaming services if you search up “Heavily Biased Guitar Reviews” podcast.