To the Editor,
This community owes a huge thank you to Calvin Dyck, concertmaster of the Vancouver Island Symphony, and Ken Lavigne, well-known vocalist, for their efforts in providing such a wonderful evening in the Lions Pavillion in Maffeo Sutton Park on Aug. 17.
Calvin is from Abbotsford and Ken is based in Chemainus, but these two professionals took a calculated gamble and combined their skills to organize this concert with no guarantee of any financial return.
With their talents as solo performers, they attracted other local soloists such as Sarah Wood and Pippa Williams, assembled an orchestra of musicians from the Abbotsford Junior Orchestra and from the Vancouver Island Symphony, and invited a select group of the Skipping Sensations, also from Abbotsford.
Add a few sponsors and a small band of volunteers and the concert, featuring several of Calvin’s solos and Ken’s ballads and classics, resulted in several standing ovations from the large crowd estimated at more than 2,000 people on a perfect August evening.
It took courage to plan and deliver this Summertime Pops by the Sea event – I have my fingers crossed that the donations collected were enough to cover the expenses these two professionals incurred and that they were sufficiently encouraged to immediately begin planning for the 2014 version.
With word of mouth of the success of this free event, there should be some sponsors who can support Calvin and Ken in continuing what could be an annual tradition of this orchestral event.
Les Dickason
Nanaimo