Nikki Weber has been a tireless organizer of showcases for youthful performers for many years now. On Canada Day she, along with choir leader Sara Douglas, were the on-stage hosts for a youth competition, Sechelt’s Got Talent, at the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre.
The first wave of kids, who had auditioned previously for their chance to perform, were the pre-teens, and they sang or played violin and piano. Two little girls harmonized together nicely in a duet while a 12-year-old pianist sang a popular song from Ain’t Misbehavin’.
The adjudicators were from off Coast so as to avoid favouritism. They were Walter Martella, musician from the Powell River Academy of Music; Peter Taylor, music educator and host of the Vocal Summit; and musician Roy Carson.
For first place among the pre-teens they selected Cassidy Wieler, 10, whose fiddle piece, a Ukrainian wedding tune that grew progressively faster, had dazzled the audience. Cassidy is a member of the Sunshine Coast Youth String ensemble and she has been playing most of her young life. Caleb Geue, 10, took second place for his jazzy number.
It was the second half of the show that challenged the judges – each teen (13 to 19) performed their best. Ethan Geue at 13 was competing on the piano against his older brother Brison, 15, who writes his own music and gave his interpretation of an Adele song.
Ashley Hautala, 17, offered a great rendition of Fight Song, as did Chelsea Rubin, 14, with her vocal selection. Mitchell Morris, 13, brought a new element to the competition when he hit the drums on Sparkplug.
The judges took a nail-bitingly long time to make a decision. One of them later told Coast Reporter it had been difficult because many of the teen competitors were within one point of each other.
Emily Picard, classical pianist now in grade 12, took first place, Jasmine Fitzsimons took second for her performance and Cameron Peters at age 19 turned his passion for the guitar and his original composition into third place. Expect to see some of these kids on stage again soon.
