PRINCE ALBERT — For more than eight years, St. David’s Church have been putting on a Donny Parenteau and Friends Christmas Country Gospel Concert.
This year, they scheduled an afternoon concert and were pleased to see some new faces taking in the earlier event at 2:30 pm. Tickets were $15, which included refreshments with desserts. A portion of the proceeds supports students at the Donny Parenteau School of Music through two youth scholarships of $100 each.
These donations are much appreciated and enable Parenteau to help students in need who have the opportunity to realize their dreams of becoming musicians.
Musicians included Roland Corrigal, Carmen Robinson, Irene Savisky, Paul Lomheim, Kiana Carnegie, Al Rybchinski, Aiden Edwards, The Trudel Family and of course Donny Parenteau, and a backup band with Mike Gracias, Al Rybchinski, Janice Trudel, Donny Parenteau and Wilf Savisky. The orchestra included violin, guitar, accordion and a portable organ. Concertgoers were treated to desserts and refreshments during the intermission that they could take back to their seats.
The first set was gospel music. Two of the musicians were young students who attend the school, along with two adults who graduated from the school and are pursuing their careers in music. The young students are invited to play in order to get first-hand experience in playing for an audience.
After the intermission, the musicians played Christmas Carols and invited the audience to sing along. Members of the surrounding community are welcome to attend these concerts.
