| About Rebecca |
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Education: At age 2, Rebecca began to be exposed to music in Music Fun Time classes at Visionary College. Even then, her parents knew there was something special about her musicality. Since kindergarten, Rebecca has taken private piano and vocal lessons. She has even lent her voice to musical teaching CD’s produced at Visionary College for their preschool music classes. Rebecca is dedicated to establishing a firm musical foundation to support her craft as a singer/songwriter. Last spring she received First Class Honours in her Grade 6 Royal Conservatory of Music vocal exam. She just took her Grade 7 RCM vocal exam. Awards: Rebecca has always enjoyed opportunities to improve her skills as a performer. She loves to perform a wide range of genres from classical, pop, country to musical theatre and folk. Rebecca has been singing in competions in the Edmonton area since the age of six. Rebecca has been selected yearly to perform as a finalist at the Northern Star Talent search at Capital EX for the last 6 years. She has been in the finals at the Futures Fest competition for the last 6 years with many successes: 2005 she won best junior musical theatre solo, in 2007 she was the 9-12 years division winner, and in 2009 she was 2nd place in the 9-12 division performing one of her original songs. In 2010 she again placed 2nd.Singing a classical set, Rebecca was a junior vocal scholarship winner at the Rotary Festival in 2007. Rebecca has also been a regular at the EFCL Talent show winning awards for Top Vocal Pop under 11 years in 2005 and 2006, the Showmanship Award in 2007 and 2008, and the Daphne Surrey Musical Theatre Award in 2008. Performing one of her original songs Rebecca won the St Albert Idol junior division in 2008 and was a guest performer at St.Albert Idol in 2009. Singing her DARE composition, Turned Out Wrong, Rebecca was the winner of the 2009 East Meets West Idol competition. In April 2011, Rebecca received a mark of superior for her composition, Forever Together, at the Edmonton Kiwanis Music Festival. Currently she is competing in The Edmonton Undiscovered Show, and has made it to round 3. She is excited to be singing 2 originals as part of the Kalyna Idol finals that will take place in September, 2011. Other: Besides performing, Rebecca is busy with other activities. At Victoria School, Rebecca was in the elementary choir for 6 years, and also participated in the hip hop club, running club and hand bells choir. Outside of school, she loves to dance and has taken 3 years of ballet. In the last couple of years her focus has switched to Jazz dancing. Rebecca is also a competitive gymnast and she came first all round in her level at provincials in 2009. In February 2010 she competed as a gymnast in the Alberta Winter Games. Performing:
Rebecca was born to perform. At the age of 3 she would recite books such as “Boney Legs” and “McDuff Comes Home” from memory with inflection and humor. Next, she did classes and performances at the Foote Theatre School at the Citadel. In grade 3, Rebecca was in the opera Filumena with the Edmonton Opera which was broadcast on CBC. Rebecca was in theatre Zocolo’s production of Hamlet at the Fringe in 2007. Rebecca’s singing and gymnastic skills were put to use, as the genie, in Sinbad the Sailor at the Walterdale Playhouse in 2007. In the same grade 5 year, Rebecca was an orphan in Victoria School’s production of “Annie”. Rebecca’s classical voice training as well as her ear for languages and melody won her a spot in the chorus of Mercury Opera’s production of the Italian opera “Pagliacci” at the 2008 Fringe Festival. Later in grade six Rebecca was a part of the Cockney Chorus in Victoria School’s production of “My Fair Lady”. Rebecca enjoys musical theatre as it uses her skills in music, dance and acting in front of an interactive audience. At the 2009 Fringe Festival Rebecca was part of a reader’s theatre performance of “Ollie’s Field Journal a 9/10th Happy Story from Africa” at the kid’s fringe. In 2010 she was part of her schools "Wade in the Water Collective" as a singer, dancer and songwriter. Since grade 2, Rebecca has been in commercials for Acura, Save-on Foods and the Family Channel. She was also part of two episodes of “Fear Itself” and the video “Edmonton 2030” with AQUILA Productions. But Rebecca’s true passion is singing and she has been performing at venues and charity events around Edmonton since the age of 6. She has performed the Canadian anthem at the St. Albert Steele and the Edmonton Cracker Cats games. She has sung at various malls such as the West Edmonton Mall, Northgate Mall, and Westmount Mall. Rebecca has donated her time singing at the Sturgeon Hospital, Save-on-Foods feed the bus campaign, Cops for Cancer fundraiser, Walk for MS fundraiser, Glenrose Senior Centre, Royal Alexander Hospital, St. Valentines Day Hair Massacure, Northeast Community Health Centre, St Albert Chamber of Commerce staff appreciation luncheon, Jackson Heights School relay for life, and the Kokopelli 4th Annual Sing-A-Thon at the Bogani Café. She has performed at Canada day celebrations in Spruce Grove and St. Albert several times. She has sung at community events such as St Albert’s International Children’s Festival, The Festival of Trees, St. Albert Trade show, Fete Au Vilage in Legal, St. Albert’s Rock’n August, Mootastic Ice cream Parlor, CFRN Pancake Breakfast at the Mayfield Inn, and the Family Fun Town at Capital Ex. Song Writing: Rebecca is a born story teller, who began writing songs at the age of 10. She has always enjoyed creative writing and has been published in the Magpie Magazine 4 times as well as in the Celebrating Words publication. It should come as no surprise that lyrics and melody are the core around which Rebecca expresses her thoughts and feelings. The lyrical inspiration for her songs comes from a wide range of sources such as Uganda’s children, the underground railroad, everyday teen friendships and conflicts or the Edmonton Police’s DARE program. Her musical inspiration comes from her exposure to an eclectic mix of instrumentalists and singers in styles ranging from classical, opera, jazz, country, pop, and folk. Live performances where she can really feel the music are especially inspiring for her. She absorbs these rhythms, rhymes, and melodies and makes them her own. It is often late at night in bed when Rebecca is inspired to writes songs. Her light comes on and she works out the words on a pad of paper before recording the lyrics and melody on her bedside tape recorder. To date she has written over 50 songs with more just waiting to be born. U22 Recent Story: Songwriting opens a whole new world for Rebecca and she began to discover herself as an authentic performer. She began performing her original material at competitions and then at local venues in Edmonton. She became a regular at Hulbert’s Songwriters Stage on Sunday Nights. At Hulbert’s, Rebecca was noticed by Rhea March who invited her to join U22. U22 has provided Rebecca with mentorship and performance opportunities which have been crucial to her growth as an individual performer. She recorded her first 3 song EP in March 2009. The song Friends from this EP has been played on CKUA. Over the past year Rebecca has performed her songs at Hulbert’s, The Blue Chair, Profiles Art Gallery, The Art Walk, and the Big Valley Jamboree Family Stage. Rebecca also performed at the East Meets West Festival along with other U22 performers, plus she won the East Meets West Idol competition. During the summer of 2009 Rebecca also added two more songs to her original acoustic EP. Last fall Rebecca recorded a new 5 song EP titled “Young Voice, Old Soul” which features the talents of local musicians who help bring Rebecca’s songs to life. Recently Rebecca has performed at the Black Gold Rodeo, Mandolin Bookstore, The Women's Gathering Event and opened a house concert for Painting with Ella. In the spring of 2011, Rebecca released her all original full length album "Not In Neverland" produced by Peter Stone of 100 Mile House. Demographics: Rebecca was born in San Francisco, CA. She lives in Edmonton with her parents and siblings, and 2 cats. She has attended a fine arts school for the last 8 years. Rebecca dreams of becoming a successful singer songwriter, but if that doesn’t work out her back up plan is to become an archeologist.
Turned Out Wrong: winner of Alternative Trends East Meets West, 2009 Runaway: 2nd place winner in Futures Fest, 2009 See My Tears: "Fostering Acceptance Through Art and Gobal Citizenship", 2009 Message In The Wind: in “Wade in the Water” collective at Victoria School of Performing Arts, 2010 Turned Out Wrong: on Not4Me national drug awareness website, 2010 I am the Man: CJSR Radio, 2010
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