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Sooke youth are singing for the love of it

Sooke Youth Show Choir sings out at concert on April 26
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Muswical director Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson wants to get music happening everywhere. She is the passionate and dedicated musical director for both the Sooke Community Choir and the Sooke Youth Show Choir. Just last year she put out the call for youth voices and got way more than she bargained for. That’s a good thing in every way. Wilson said she has 50 kids who are in the youth choir and are “really really promising.”

“I want to get music happening everywhere I can in the community. I was lucky as a kid - some kids don’t have the opportunity.”

Those 50 youth are rehearsing to perform at their first ever concert on April 26 at the Edward Milne community theatre at 7 p.m. They will be accompanied on piano by Laura Dowhy.  The youth choir will be joined by members from the Sooke Community Choir and about 24 musicians from the western communities. There will be over 100 people performing.

“These are random people I have connected with,” said Wilson. “We’ll have guitars, drums, French horns, tubas… that’s exciting.”

A special guest is Skye Mundell, a piano player who won the 2010 Vancouver Island’s Got Talent competition. Born at 24 weeks, Mundell is blind, almost deaf, has cerebral palsy and is autistic yet he won the competition against all odds. He is self-taught.

“This was really inspirational for me,” said Wilson. She said he started playing piano in 2008 and is  a “really special guy.”

“I want to keep the audience’s ears changing,” she said. The band has never played together before but it will work because, as Wilson said, “This is what we do as professional musicians… and we have amateurs with a professional attitude.”

The Sooke Community Choir will be singing a diverse collection of songs, familiar to most people.

Wilson has a wish, and that is to have the Sooke Youth Show Choir become a permanent fixture on the music scene in Sooke and to perform in two concerts a year.

“I want to make sure kids know about it. Our wish is that next year it will be thriving again.”

Potential singers can check out the Sooke Youth Show Choir’s Facebook page or contact Wilson through email at: sookeyouthshowchoir@gmail.com.

Check the website for ticket availability.