A performer sings his heart out at the Canadian Tire Search for the Stars auditions. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW staff)

By Logan Lehmann

the next star

‘Search for the Stars’ returns to PA stage

Nov 20, 2022 | 2:27 PM

One of them could very well be the next Taylor Swift, Shania Twain or Ed Sheeran.

Youth from ages 7-18 got their chance to be in the spotlight on Sunday, when they had the opportunity to audition to be cast for the Canadian Tire Search for the Stars showcase coming up in January.

22 kids from as far away as Warman came to the EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts to show the judges what they could do behind the mike.

One of the coordinators of the event and Marketing Coordinator for the Centre, Cara Stelmaschuk said that those selected will attend a workshop before performing at the showcase.

“(The workshop) is a prize for everyone selected,” she said. “They’re given invaluable advice and will get to attend a workshop with our judges, who are all industry professionals. There’s lots of music lessons, voice lessons. It’s a chance to learn the dynamics of performing with a live band. A lot of these kids perform with backtracks but when they get to the showcase, they’re performing with a band.”

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She added that they had more kids sign up to audition this year than in past years as the average normally is around 14-16 vocalists.

Stelmaschuk also said that because of time, some of the vocalists couldn’t make it along with some bands too. When asked about the different styles of performances that they see, she said that kids come and perform genres of all kinds.

“It’s varied,” she said. “We get kids that do country, kids that do rock, we get lots of musical theatre performances so it’s a really well-rounded genre sampler of music for the audiences.”

The workshop and showcase will take place on the same weekend in mid-January with the workshop happening on the 14^th from 9am-9pm, and the showcase on the 15^th at 2pm. Tickets will become available for purchase later next month.

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logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann