Four performers will take over the Memorial Park stage this Saturday as part of the Summer Concerts in the Park series.
The concert will feature Taylor Bellows, The Four Tunes, Thomas Jones, and Hope Community Choir.
Bellows is a 16-year-old singer from Hope who recently won three awards at 2013 Chilliwack Lions Club Music and Dance Festival. She took home first place in the pop category, second in the folk song category, and was awarded a trophy for her overall vocal performance, beating out five other competitors. The Hope Secondary School student has been performing for family and friends for as long as she can remember. She started taking vocal lessons when she was 12 years old, and brought home gold and silver from the Chilliwack Lions Club Music and Dance Festival that year. Bellows also attended a music festival in Vancouver last year, where one of her performances landed her second place. She has been training in folk song, classical, and contemporary pop. One of her biggest musical influences is Michael Jackson.
The Four Tunes are four friends with a great love for music, who came together to have fun and entertain. They chose to play the mandolin, which can be heard in all kinds of music from rock and roll and folk, to country, blue grass, ethnic, and classical. The group consists of Vera Anderson and Marge Grabarevic from Hope, and Mary Fisher and Mary Ann Pelletier from Agassiz. Along with mandolins, these ladies also play other instruments: Anderson doubles on violin, Grabarevic plays alto sax, and Fisher and Pelletier both play guitars.
Jones is a 31-year-old long-time Hope resident who was born on Vancouver Island to Welsh parents. He’s had vocal, acoustic and electric guitar training, and taught John Maleska who is now teaching in Chilliwack. Until the Driftwynd Bistro recently closed, Jones was a regular at the jam sessions on Sunday afternoons, sliding in to play a few songs backed up by The Crew’s Adriaan Abeling, Shades O’Grey lead guitarist Greg Bradbury, a blues harp player, and Driftwynd’s owner playing percussion on a cajon. Jones credits his musical influences to Oasis, The Beatles, Coldplay, U2, and Blue Rodeo.
The Hope Community Choir has became a staple at community events. The secular choir performs country, contemporary, pop, broadway, gospel and spiritual music in four-part harmony – soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Made up of over 20 members, spanning several generations, the choir’s emphasis is on having fun.
The concert on July 13 is presented by the Hope & District Arts Council and runs from 12-2 p.m. at the Memorial Park bandshell.
For more information, contact the council office at 604-869-3400.