A star Canadian singer is coming to Bancroft to perform with the North Hastings High School band.
Joey Niceforo, a former member of The Tenors, will perform with the North Hastings High School band this weekend. Dianne Winmill, the Music Teacher at North Hastings High School, says it all started when she won the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year last year. She met Linda Heldman, who runs the blog Canadian Beats, who then introduced her to Niceforo. After speaking with them both, they worked out a time when he could come to Bancroft to sing with her band. “Sometimes taking advantage of opportunities leads to amazing things,” Windmill says.
Winmill joked that many of her students weren’t familiar with The Tenors at first, but after watching clips of Niceforo sing she says they all perked up. She adds that as they continued to plan for the concert her students got more and more excited. Fay Williams, who will play first Flute in the concert, says the build-up to the concert has been a lot of fun. “All the students who are taking music enjoy the music as well,” she says. She adds that the challenge and pressure of it make the lead-up to the concert more fun. Williams will have a
The song they’ll be singing is an original song written by Suresh Singaratnam. It’s called “A Canadian Christmas.” “It’s a song of solidarity, a song of belonging, a song about diversity in Canada and that regardless of race or religious beliefs we can all get along,” Winmill says. Winmill says Singaratnam will be creating an original arrangement of the song for the concert.
Above all else, Winmill is excited because this gives her students a performance opportunity. A very professional one at that, she adds. “We are a music program, a performance program, so whenever we get the chance to perform somewhere it’s always a bonus,” she says. “I’m most excited to see the band and Joey translate the audience,” Williams added. She says she wants to hear the audience’s feedback on the concert after.
The concerts will be this Saturday and Sunday the Village Playhouse. Saturday’s concert will be at 7 PM, while Sunday’s will be at 2 PM. You can buy tickets for $15 at the Playhouse’s website, at Vintage on Hastings, Hospice North Hastings or at the door on concert day.