The Northern Lights Festival gratefully acknowledges an extraordinary gift from Charita Holod: a comprehensive personal music library built over the course of her teaching career and generously donated to the festival. Comprising six large cartons and over a thousand orchestral parts and scores for string and chamber orchestra, the collection now forms the Charita Holod Music Library.
This library contains a wealth of repertoire that is increasingly difficult to find, including pedagogical materials and editions not readily available online. Organized through a detailed and thoughtful indexing system and alphabetized by composer, the collection reflects decades of practical teaching experience and deep musical care. It is ideally suited to the needs of the Northern Lights Festival, where flexibility, access, and discovery are central to the artistic process.
Charita Holod was a long-time cello teacher at Toronto’s Etobicoke School of the Arts (ESA), a specialized public arts high school renowned for its rigorous arts training and for shaping generations of Canadian artists. Over more than twenty years at ESA, Charita was a deeply respected and beloved teacher whose influence extended far beyond the classroom.
The Northern Lights Festival’s Artistic Director, Christopher Wilshere, attended ESA and was a student of Charita Holod, making this gift especially meaningful and personal.
The connection extends further through Roman Borys, world-renowned cellist and long-time Northern Lights Festival musician, who began his cello studies with Charita at the age of six. Roman has been part of the festival for over a decade, and Charita herself has visited Ajijic and supported the festival as a patron over many years, creating a living thread between teacher, student, and the festival community.
