A talented lady and three musically skilled guys will keep the Rotary Performing Arts Centre in Okotoks tuned up this weekend.
On Friday, March 25 Calgary singer/songwriter and former Canadian Idol contestant Jenn Beaupre will perform at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre (RPAC) at 7 p.m.
The next evening, also at 7 p.m. the concert hall will host the inaugural event in the emerging A Room Full of Sound concert series. Taking to the stage will be up and coming Calgary roots music performer T. Buckley, Okotoks bluesman Darren Johnson and Celtic fusion fiddle player, Ben Plotnick who is a native Calgarian.
They are four different artists who each share a love of music and their own way of expressing their unique sound.
Take for example Beaupre, 28, who said she took to singing and performing early in life.
“I sang around the house at a very young age,” she said. “I came to be bullied by other kids and I think my mom wanted me to have something where I could feel good about myself. So my mother told me she was going to take me to a singing coach even though I was worried the other girls would be more pretty and sound too good. The opera coach told my mother her class was full and my mom said, ‘no, now listen’ so the teacher listened and then she said ‘okay, I’ll make room.’”
With her opera training in hand Beaupre started working on being a professional musician as soon as she graduated from high school.
A few years ago she was a contestant on the TV series “Canadian Idol”. While the judges quickly took note of her powerful vocal skills she was cut from the competition before the selection of the finalists.
Beaupre recalled she was then told she would have a chance to perform her way back into the show as a wildcard contestant. At the last minute the plan was changed and she was whisked off the show in a limousine, without getting a chance to perform again. Even though she’s maintained contact with the judges and some of the other contestants from the defunct program she confessed she doesn’t have the fondest memories of her turn on “Idol”.
Beaupre said her main reason for doing the series was to get a fresh start.
“I lived in Quebec for a while with my boyfriend who was my co-writer in a band,” she explained. “I broke up with him and I came home. My sister and I were driving home from the airport and we saw the sign for the show’s auditions. People had been telling me to do this for years. I thought I don’t have a boyfriend, I don’t have a band so we just stopped in and it took up a year of my life.”
Friday night at the RPAC Beaupre will perform as part of a duo. She will be singing and playing the piano while her frequent playing partner, Lewis Frere, will be on guitar and vocals.
Her music has a powerful, sometimes moody, quality and it has been compared to the likes of Jann Arden and Sarah McLachlan.
A Room Full of Sound
Saturday’s A Room Full of Sound concert is an effort by new Okotoks concert promoter Rick Harding, who wants to create an ongoing series of live music shows. He’s having the performances of Buckley, Johnson, and Plotnick video recorded to be turned into demo reels for the artists as well as a potential pilot for a TV series.
Johnson said he’s glad to be able to play again for a hometown audience and hopes the show at the RPAC is a catalyst for future performances at the renovated theatre.
“Ideally, it would be nice to have the place booked every weekend with somebody coming in,” he said. “So were just trying to raise awareness that it’s open and ready to go. It’d be nice to get some touring acts through here and hopefully this is the start of that.”
Johnson said he will be performing on his own for his portion of the event.
“I’m going to be doing an acoustic show featuring some songs from the new album I will have coming out,” he said. “The new record is strictly acoustic blues and hopefully it’s going to be ready in the late fall.”
Tickets for Beaupre’s show on Friday can be purchased on-line at www.okotoksartscouncil.ca.
Those looking to attend Saturday night’s three-artist show can order tickets at www.aroomfullofsound.com
