Pianist Towa Stewart recently returned from the B.C. Festival of the Performing Arts in Nanaimo where the 10-year-old represented the North Island Festival.
He was named runner-up in Junior Piano (14 and under) and also received an honorable mention in the Canadian Class, where he played an Oscar Peterson jazz piece.
There are 34 regional performing arts festivals throughout the province. Each regional festival sends its most promising young artists between the ages of 10 and 28 to participate in the annual provincial festival, which is held in a different community each year. The five-day event encompasses special master classes, workshops and adjudications for piano, voice, strings, woodwinds, speech arts and dance.
Towa attends École Puntledge Park in Courtenay. He speaks English, French and Japanese.
He began piano lessons more than three years ago with Debbie Ross and is currently studying piano with Shelley Roberts in Campbell River. Recently, Towa won the Ruth Scott Chopin Piano Competition and a prize of $500.
He will attend the Victoria Piano Summer School in July, then will take the RCM Grade 8 piano exam in August.
Towa loves to play the piano, and has a special interest in jazz, ragtime and blues. His other interests include art, reading and sports.