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Jantzen to receive Sun Festival Mentor of the Arts Award

A mentor, teacher and music enthusiast, Curt Jantzen’s impact on the musical and cultural scene in South Delta is quite impressive.
Curt Jantzen
Curt Jantzen is the 2018 recipient of the Tsawwassen Sun Festival Mentor of the Arts Award.

A mentor, teacher and music enthusiast, Curt Jantzen’s impact on the musical and cultural scene in South Delta is quite impressive.

After having shared his passion for music with adults and students for nearly four decades, Jantzen is the 2018 recipient of the Tsawwassen Sun Festival Mentor of the Arts Award.

Dedicated to an individual who has devoted himself or herself to making an impact in the Tsawwassen arts community, the award has been presented annually since 2009.

“Curt has been in the community for many, many years and has contributed so much to music and the arts in Delta. He is a very worthy recipient,” said Sun Festival events coordinator Elaine Campbell.

Jantzen said he was very happy when he learned about the award.

“It’s a great honour for sure, but I must say that all my band members deserve the credit. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Jantzen was drawn to music from an early age, taking piano lessons at five and then learning more instruments in school, including violin and clarinet. Although born in Canada, his parents moved to Los Angeles for six years in 1957, and it was at Westchester high school where his interest in band music began to form as a member of the marching band, concert band, choir and symphony orchestra.

Back in Canada, he decided to pursue a teaching career, graduating from UBC in 1970.

Looking for a better place to raise his three sons, Jantzen moved to Delta in 1980.

He founded the Delta Music Makers, made up entirely of local musicians who enjoy playing in a concert band.

For the past 35 years, the Music Makers have been playing and touring both locally and abroad.

“What impressed me is that I have had some of the same people in the group for 35 years — it’s like a career for some people,” he said.

Despite retiring as fine arts coordinator for the Surrey School District in 2003, he continues to stay busy as conductor for the Delta Music Makers, a teacher for an after school music program at Hawthorne Elementary in Ladner and is one of the coordinators of Ladner Bandfest.

“The nice thing about the people that I work with is that they have a long-term commitment. People seem to enjoy doing the musical things that I’m involved in,” Jantzen said. “My first motivation is my wife Jhandie. If she didn’t support everything that I was doing and participating then none of this would have happened.”

He said South Delta is a wonderful community for music.

“There is definitely a personal satisfaction of conducting a band that has worked really hard on a set of music. You are performing in front of an appreciative audience – it’s a thrill of a lifetime,” he said. “The same goes with the young students that we teach. Sometimes we have a concert of 100 kids at the end of the year all playing together – it’s a pretty magical moment.”

Jantzen will receive the award on Aug. 6 on the main stage during final day of the Sun Festival.

— With files from Adrian McNair