2006 Press Release
Northern Ontario Youth Talent Search
Thunder Bay, Ontario - Long before Canadian Idol or Thunder Bay Idol, was the Northern Ontario Youth Talent Search. After a long hiatus, the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition (CLE) revived the competition in 2003. For the past 4 years, the competition has attracted young performers between the ages of 13 and 21 to strut their stuff before a panel of professional judges. This year, the judging panel included two professional performers, Juno-nominee Rita Chiarelli, and Scott vanTeeffelen.
Singers, dancers, musicians, and musical theatre made up the roster at this year’s competition. However, the top three winners of the event all performed musical theatre pieces.
First place winner, Tiana Asperjan of Dorion performed a piece from the new play ‘Wicked’ entitled “The Wizard and I”. As this years’ winner, Tiana received a $1,000 first place prize. Tiana also competed with this piece at the Provincial Music Festival in London where she was chosen as this year’s Provincial Winner of Musical Theatre.
Second place went to Sarah Lewis of Thunder Bay who performed “On My Own” from the play ‘Les Misérables’. Sarah received $500 for 2nd place. Nicole Jones from Dorion placed third with her performance of “Good Morning Baltimore” from the play Hairspray, receiving a cash prize of $250.
As the winner of the local competition, Tiana Asperjan will be representing Northern Ontario at the National Youth Talent Search in Edmonton this November. Along with her cash prize, she receives an all-expense paid trip to Edmonton.
Since 1991 young Canadian performers across the country have competed in their local zones in the hopes of being chosen to compete at the National level. You may have heard of former participants Michael Bublé who recently performed to a sold out crowd in Thunder Bay; Paul Brandt, Canada's country music superstar; Matt Dusk who released two jazz CDs since participating in 1999. Past local winners who competed nationally include the Jay Family Singers, Karina Long, Eryn Hull, Dina Thompson and Jasmine Martini-Ruberto.
The CLE plans to run the competition again in 2007. Changes to the competition will be made to allow more youth to participate.
