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Soprano Shannon Mercer and classical guitarist Andrew Mah are among the Canterbury grads who will join actor-musician Raoul Bhaneja on stage Saturday at the fund-raising show to help the school's arts program. Others returning to Canterbury for the variety show include jazz singer Sarah Strange, dancers Maureen Shea and Brad Sykes, singer Naomi Rachlis and comedians Martin Gero and Kurt Smeaton, who will act as hosts for the show. Gero and Smeaton both appeared on CTV's The Holmes Show, which starred another Canterbury grade, comedian Jessica Holmes. mercer, a hugely promising young soprano who has trained at San Francisco Opera and the Canadian Opera Company, will sing arias from Rossini's Barber of Seville and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Sarah Strange, now based in New York City, will join other singers for Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and alone will sing Why Do People Fall In Love? Bhaneja, who is also a blues musician, will perform with his band Raoul and the Big Time. The other returning grads will perform readings, dance pieces, pop music, comedy and musical theatre songs. The performance is the third annual fundraising event for Canterbury, which for more than 20 years has run an intensive visual, performing and literary arts program that has attracted students from across the Ottawa area. Other graduates of the program include tenor Tyley Ross, who has starred in the musicals Tommy and Miss Saigon in Toronto and New York. Ross will be featured in a music video singing an operatic aria. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Canterbury Arts Centre Development Association, a charitable organization created in 1985 to help fund the school's arts program in the face of cuts by the school board. The funds will go to bursaries for talented students and the costs of holding the annual auditions for potential arts students. |