Ensemble members of the Shaw Festival are teaming up with a few talented local residents to perform at their second annual Autumn in the Air Concert to raise funds for the Boxill/Doherty Fund.
The Boxill/Doherty committee started around 1977, said Shane Carty, an actor in his third year with the Shaw.
“It essentially raises funds for people in the artistic community in the Niagara Region who are in need,” he said. “There is a constant need for assistance, as our lifestyle as artists can be a little bit unpredictable.”
The evening will feature classical music, and it’s “all acoustic, which is pretty cool,” Carty said. “We've got a couple of duos who have set up to do some instrumental classical music.”
“There are so many people who work at the Shaw Festival who are classically trained musicians who don't necessarily do that work every day,” he added. “They work in other departments and they they have completely different jobs.”
Carty noted that after the concert last year, “so many people came up afterwards and said ‘I had no idea so and so was a classically-trained singer,’ you know, because they did this completely different job.”
It’s “really fun to kind of pull those people out of the woodwork a little bit.”
A silent auction will run during the show and Carty promises that it will be filled with eclectic and exciting items. “We have one, maybe I shouldn't spoil this, but we have one very, very cool item in addition to many others. The silent auction is going to be filled with theatre memorabilia.”
Members of the Shaw Festival Gospel Choir will also appear, alongside some community members. “We have tremendous support from the community here and it's really great that they get to hear new voices, people they've never heard before,” said Carty.
The fundraiser will take place at St. Mark’s Church at 41 Byron Street in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Sept. 16, at 7 pm. Doors open at 6 pm.
Tickets can be purchased at the door or online for $35 by visiting https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/autumn-in-the-air-tickets-964535340167?aff=ebdssbdestsearch