A 5th grader from Guardian Angels Public School in Stittsville blew away all the teenage competition at the Richmond Fair’s Rise2Fame competition today and won 1st prize for his incredible vocal performance.
Rowan Hendrick, 10, just started his third year of lessons at U-Rock Music School. He has studied vocals, guitar and has also been a member of the school’s junior band, The Shooting Stars, but his real passion is performing and he wowed all the judges and many of his competitors on Sunday, at Richmond Fair’s Rise2Fame vocal contest.
The song Rowan chose to perform was as ambitious as it gets for any aspiring vocalist, Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, from the Oscar winning film Titanic. Too young to have actually watched the movie, Rowan confessed that his interest in the song came from the expressive delivery of Canadian superstar, Dion, who he says he truly admires as a vocalist.
We are so very proud of Rowan, not just for winning first place, a $500 cash prize, at his very first vocal competition but for bravely stepping up and sharing his musical gift at such a public venue. Two other U-Rock vocalists, Samantha Clarke and Sarah Culbert both also performed at the Richmond Fair this year. Sarah won 3rd place at this event last year, and also impressively won 1st prize at the Ottawa Capital Fair earlier this summer.
You can enjoy the talents of many of our U-Rock stars at our school’s first open mic event on Sunday, October 29, at 3pm at Hurley’s Grill in Stittsville. There will be many first-timers and many of our prize winning stars performing at this free concert.