Kitchener’s Centre In The Square is welcoming in the new year with a collaboration of instrumental and vocal musicality.
KW Glee is performing two shows later this month along with the K-W Symphony. This isn’t the first time they’ve come together, and it’s clearly well received because tickets for both performances are going fast.
The vocal group is made of young singers from across the region, including Woolwich and Wellesley townships. Wellesley resident and Grade 10 student Nikki Metzger has been part of the group since 2014.
“If you love to sing and dance and just love being on stage it’s a great opportunity to just do what you love,” Metzger said.
They’ll be performing songs by artists such as Queen, Michael Jackson, Adele, and Michael Bublé. She says typically they learn all new songs for each of their shows, including choreography.
KW Glee is put together by producer Steve Lehmann, artistic director Amanda Kind, vocal director Simon Tse, vocal assistant Tristan Pilcher and choreographers Christine Watson, Sarah Willett and Amy Sproule.
The group won the Show Choir Canada National Championship in 2015.
The symphony will be conducted by Trevor Wagler. Metzger’s looking forward to performing with the symphony again.
“It’s a really cool experience to perform with a huge symphony and it’s a big honour to have the symphony play songs for us.”
Metzger is no stranger to the stage, having performed in Wellesley Idol for many years, including finishing in third place last year and earning the title of fan favourite.
Before joining the glee club, she went to a show to see what it was all about.
“I really enjoyed it and I’m like, well I love singing and dancing, so I really wanted to try it. I’ve loved it ever since I’ve been it.”
She says learning all the choreography and the songs takes a long time to learn and is pretty challenging, but it’s worth it to see the final product.
She’s also been able to learn how to use her voice better through her two years with the group.
“They tell us different ways and tricks to use for your voice and what’s good for your voice and what’s bad for it, just different techniques to make your voice better. It’s really helped me improve.”
And the friends she’s made in the process have become more like family. She encourages anyone who’s interested in the group to give it a shot. Auditions for KW Glee’s next term are Jan. 21. Anyone age 9-13 are welcome to audition for the juniors or 14-19 year olds for the seniors.
“It’s a lot of variety of different songs. It’s just a really fun show to watch and enjoy.”
If you can’t catch these performances you can also see KW Glee at the University of Waterloo’s Humanities Theatre on May 5-6.
KW Glee performs live with the K-W Symphony at the Centre In The Square on Jan. 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $36 and are available online at www.kwsymphony.ca or by calling 519-745-4711 or 888-745-4717.
