G.
Major of St. George’s School of
Montreal is the only non-Ontario entry.
They will demonstrate their best vocals, dance moves, and musicianship against
defending champions Wexford Glee. Wexford School of the Arts (Scarborough); CN
Explosion, Cardinal Newman
Catholic Secondary School (Stoney Creek); SPCH, St. Peter Catholic High School (Orleans); Synergy, Unionville High School (Markham); Cheat
Notes, York Mills Collegiate
Institute (York Mills); Splash, Etobicoke School of the Arts; Adrenaline!, Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute (Toronto); Vocal
Fusion, Richmond Hill High School;
GCVI Glee Club, Guelph Collegiate
Vocational Institute; Claude Watson Glee, Earl Haig Secondary School (North York); Storm Surge, South Carleton High School (Richmond); Coca
Codas, Sinclair Secondary School (Whitby).
St.
George’s won the 2010 Just for Kids Foundation Glee Showdown and came in second
last November. “It is such an honour to be representing Montreal and Quebec as
the only school in the competition from outside of Ontario,” says Candace
Grynol, the head of the St. George’s Performing Arts Program and of the Glee program. “ Our students are
extremely excited and are working very hard, investing their time into many
many hours of rehearsal. Our goal is to embrace the experience, learn a lot and
have a ton of fun performing our set at the Sony Centre.”
Here they are in action at the last Glee Showdown:
Toronto
native and Juno Award-winning performer Shawn Desman, who served as
a judge last year at the inaugural competition, will step out from behind the
judging table and take the reins as host. With an accomplished career including
a platinum debut album, a sophomore Juno Award winning album for Best
R&B/Soul Recording, chart-topping singles and videos, movie performances
and numerous accolades under his belt, the singer, dancer, actor, songwriter and
producer’s most recent album is entitled "Fresh."
This
year, Show Choir Canada will also showcase the talents of the top-rated,
nationally ranked U.S. show choir, In Sync, from Burbank High School in
California. Participating as part of a cultural exchange, In
Sync will perform outside of the official competition, but will receive
valuable feedback from the judging panel. The Burbank High School show choir
program ranked number one in the U.S. in 2009 and 2010.
The
2012 judging panel will consist of five top industry experts who will assess
the teams competing in the preliminaries and finals. This includes Montreal educator and vocalist Jeri Brown.
 |
| Jeri Brown |
“Not only does the event provide a healthy and
educational outlet for emerging talent, it also provides a new and refreshing
perspective on vocal performance in 2012,” Brown says.” I think of shows like
Smash, Glee and and others as
indication that its time has come. At this year’s Nationals in Toronto I will
be a judge and conduct workshops to over
300 participants. I am definitely excited and hope to get others
involved in the Montreal community in the future.”
Choirs
that place first to sixth in Toronto will be awarded trophies and prizes totaling
over $25,000. The competition will also award scholarships to the Randolph
Academy for the Performing Arts for exceptional individual performers.
SCC
was developed in collaboration with Peter da Costa, Owner/Agency Director, da
Costa Talent Management and George Randolph, President/Founder, Randolph
Academy for the Performing Arts. Peter
da Costa, the CEO and executive producer of
Show Choir Canada, is excited to see a Montral entry this year. “Absolutely,”
he told The Suburban. “Our goal is to
make this event truly national. This year we have two schools from the Ottawa
region and we are thrilled to have with
us our first out of province school, St. George’s of Montreal. Our invitation
went out to as many schools across Canada as possible and we are constantly
researching and growing our list of existing and newly forming Canadian show
choirs. We have been in contact with several schools on the west coast who have
expressed that they plan on attending next year’s event.
Da
Costa says that Yamaha Music Canada has
also increased its support and participation from last year’s prize of a
digital grand piano that went to the winner, to this year offering $20,000 in
prizing to be shared by all sixfinalists. “Our venue is also much larger at the
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts as well as a panel of five judges over last
year’s three,” he said. “ All in all – great growth in a number of different
areas.”
Tickets
can be purchased online at www.sonycentre.ca or by calling 1.855.872.SONY (6779).
Follow me on Twitter @mikecohen.ca on April 13 for updates on the competition.
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