Holland College’s Music Performance students, instructors and alumni are well represented in nominations for this year’s Music PEI awards, part of the Credit Union May Run Music Festival. The two-year Music Performance program is part of the college’s School of Performing Arts (SoPA), a partnership with Confederation Centre.

Head instructor Alan Dowling, who has seven nominations himself, said SoPA’s strong representation in the list of nominations is indicative of the strength of the program.

“The Music Performance program uses official curriculum materials from Berklee College of Music in Boston for all core music courses, and Holland College is a proud partner of Berklee College of Music’s International Network. This relationship has enabled us to build a robust program that is relevant to the music industry,” he said.

Second year guitar student Jesse Periard, a member of Ten Strings And A Goat Skin, is nominated in the Entertainer of the Year and Touring Artist of the Year categories. Three alumni are nominated: Josh MacNeil for Rock Recording of the Year; Evan McCosham and his band, Coyote, for Entertainer of the Year, Touring Artist of the Year, Group Recording of the Year, Pop Recording of the Year, and Video of the Year; and Bruce Rooney, who plays with The Meds and Coyote and consequently has double nominations in some categories, for Album of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Group Recording of the Year, Pop Recording of the Year, SOCAN Songwriter of the Year, Touring Artist of the Year, and Video of the Year.

In addition to Alan Dowling’s seven nominations, strings instructor Kinley Dowling is nominated for six awards, bass instructor Devin Hornby has two nominations, and voice instructor Kelsea McLean and guitar instructor Ian Toms each have one nomination.

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