We had a full house at Blue Frog Studios Sunday Feb 28th. The room was filled with eager performers, their supporting friends and families and some fans from the community all looking forward to hearing some excellent music. The contest was open to applicants in music, dance and theatre but only musicians applied this year. There were 3 categories, Solo, Duo and Group and in total 13 acts performed ages 12 – 17. We were really impressed with the caliber of music that came out of this young collection of musicians and there was an interesting range of genres which made it enjoyable.
Some had never performed in front of a live audience before and some were seasoned performers but they had all prepared well for the contest and did not disappoint.
The winner of the Solo category was 17 year old Ava Carich who sang and played guitar on an original composition entitled Three. In the Duo category the winner was Fionn (17 year olds Alanna and Brianne Finn-Morris) indie folk/pop artists who sang their original song Magazine Face and played mandolin and guitar. In the Group category the winners were The Rays (17 years olds Harry Seely on guitar, Joyce Deng on bass, Jackson Silvester-Lee on drums, Adrien Rebselj on piano, and Maria Lesyk vocals). They performed Starlight by Muse.
As far as our organization is concerned this was definitely a success. We are delighted to have given these young artists an opportunity to compete and gain experience. We are so proud of all of them. They had to have put in a lot of hard work to achieve the level of performances that they presented and they all deserve our congratulations.
Everyone who won was awarded prize money in the amount of $300 each. Two of our sponsors for this event White Rock Chamber Music and The Peninsula Community Foundation contributed to the prize money that was given out.
We would like to thank Blue Frog Studios for doing an excellent job. It is the first time we used their services but it won’t be the last. Having the event at Blue Frog added to the atmosphere and we are looking forward to seeing the video and hearing the recording that was done.
We would also like to thank the volunteers who gave their time and expertise to the event.
MC: Natalie Dunnill
Judges: Bob Douglas, Heidi McCurdy, Dennis Enns, Susan Pendleton, and Meryle Ardagh
Peninsula Arts Foundation directors: Mike Sheeshka for doing an excellent job coordinating the stage and recording requirements with the Blue Frog staff and Shirley Boni for handling the door, and also past director Annette St. Andrews for coming out to give us a hand.
We would also like to thank the Province of BC, Gaming Branch for providing funding to our organization which allowed us put this contest on.
