When the third annual youth music concert, Lark in the Park, takes place Sunday, Sept. 12, in Winegarden Waterfront Park in Gibsons, it will add vocals to the usual instrumental mix. One of the acts that celebrates youth in music this year will be the Choralations Youth Choir of School District 46 recently returned from an exhilarating silver diploma experience at the World Choir Olympics in Bremen, Germany.
Also performing will be the Suncoast Concert Band that represents 25 musicians of all ages, playing wind and percussion, says musical director Lyle Carter. "It's a true community band," he says, that incorporates some high school students and some adults. "The band has really progressed the last few years.
He attributes its growth to regular rehearsals and a few former professional musicians in the ranks. They will play a range of music - definitely show tunes, Latin, classical and maybe some new material. No young person's musical event on the Coast would be complete without the wildly popular Coast String Fiddlers under the musical direction of Ann Law and Heather Beckmyer. On this occasion, all the fiddlers will be there. That includes the now senior teens who have been with the CSF for nearly 10 years, about 15 of the intermediate fiddlers under this year's musical instruction of Danny Hart and the little ones - wee musicians as young as five years old who are being taught their first fiddle by Chelsea Sleep. Most of the kids have had a break these past few weeks, but Law is not worried. "We have a huge repertoire," Law says. "You just start a tune and they're off."
The concert on Sunday, Sept. 12, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., is open to all by donation. Volunteers from the Festival of the Performing Arts will be collecting from the audience and can give a tax receipt. The money raised at these concerts over the past two years has totaled $4,200 to date and is being held in trust by the Town of Gibsons towards building a permanent waterfront stage in the park suitable for future performances. Also on the wish list is the restoration of the foreshore area at the park so the audience can look out over salt marsh and pebble beach while watching the show. As in the past, the craft market in Holland Park will also be open.
