Today at 3 p.m. the 20-year journey of the Cochrane Music Society (CMS) will be celebrated with a milestone concert at the Bow Valley Baptist Church.

The concert is the first of a two-part celebration that speaks to the many accomplishments of the society over the last two decades. It also features the original composition "Vision" of Andrew Ball, commissioned by the society to mark the occasion. The piece is crafted to involve the society's three major ensembles--Band on the Bow, Riverside Jazz and the Choral Waves.

"I think this is a phenomenal way of bringing around this circle to a close and really honouring everything Rob Billington created and the people who built it," says Music Director Adam Mailman.

Besides this centrepiece, Mailman says the afternoon performance will a wide array of music, from the Holst First Suite in E Flat Major to Bon Jovi.

It's been an amazing 20 years of music, love and laughter for the society established with the director Rob Billington in 1999. It was formed by parents of children in Rob Billington’s Mitford Middle School music program and has continued under Mailman for about six years.

"Even in that time, it has been a lot of fun to watch the ensembles grow and change as Diego Bechthold and I have worked with them and grow and build upon Rob Millington's original vision," says Mailman.

There have been countless concerts and jazz nights over that 20-year span. In addition, they've been part of Cochrane's Canada Day celebrations, sung on town hayrides and even froze their instruments while playing at Christmastime at the Heritage Park. They have lent their voices to the Cochrane Light Up and twice performed under the tarps at Movie Night Under the Stars and entertained in the sunshine at the Cochrane Art Walk. 

Admission to the afternoon performance is $10. There's also an evening banquet that starts at 5:30 p.m. in the newly renovated lounge of the Cochrane Lions Events Centre that starts at 5:30 p.m. An alumni jazz combo will be performing during cocktails with performers coming as far away as Vancouver to be here.

They'll be guest speakers reflecting on the past 20 years and the winning ticket of their WestJet Flight for 2 will be drawn. Deejay Chantelle Devenney, who will be presenting her "Strait Sounds."

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Andrew Ball's "Vision" of Cochrane Debuts Saturday