Isaac Friesen began his involvement with Heart of the City through the FreeArts’ Youth Stage in 2019 when pH15 - his band with fellow FreeArts performer George Zhang - played the stage. “I was asked by Sebastian Barrera from FreeArts to continue helping out with the festival over the next few years. During the pandemic we did some online shows and then after the pandemic I took a greater role with the youth stage. Last year I was directing the youth stage. This year I’m still directing the youth content but I am also acting as the artistic and logistics coordinator for the whole festival.”

Formerly known as CreArt, FreeArts is a non-profit that provides free arts and community programs for people of all ages and backgrounds throughout Edmonton.

Isaac goes on to say that, “Heart of the City is a really important festival to me because it is one of those really great opportunities for emerging artists to perform in a real gig where you are actually getting paid and have the opportunity to perform in front of a real audience. As a performer myself, Heart of the City was the first performance for my band so it will always hold a special place in my heart.”

I asked Isaac how he expresses himself creatively. “I mostly use music. I’m classically trained in piano. I also play a lot of keyboards. I have fun putting things into Logic [music production software] and seeing what comes out of it. I really like playing with sound and putting different kinds of music together to see what comes out of it. I am also an amateur puppeteer. We, the Magpie Puppet Club, perform little stories about Chinese culture and Chinese history. We do this around different festivals like Chinese New Year or the Autumn Festival.”

I wanted to know what made Isaac turn to music. He said, “I’ve always had a good experience with music. As a child my family would take me around to different festivals in the city like Folk Fest and we used to have Interstellar Rodeo, and then I got more involved from taking piano lessons. In junior high my favourite class was band class and I had a really great band teacher who pushed me to keep music as part of my life. The older I’ve got I have found that it’s even more important to me. Music is helpful for regulating and expressing emotions. It’s good for feeling different things, bringing up different emotions like nostalgia or joy. Sometimes I will listen to music to reflect. No matter what, music is a powerful tool for expression and thinking about emotion.”

Isaac just finished a dual degree in music and education from the University of Alberta and is looking to begin working as a music teacher in the near future. pH15 is also in the process of recording an album. “It’s been a long process, especially when we are working out of our own home studio. It’s lots of fun to be recording our own music and rewarding as well.”

You can find pH15 on YouTube by searching “pH15 music”. The band is also on Spotify and most of the other streaming services.

Corine Demas lives in McCauley where she is the President of the McCauley Community League and the Executive Director of the  Heart of the City Festival.