Arts & Entertainment
Semifinalists compete in Sing! Event
More will compete at the Deer Park Town Center next week.
wants to make a difference in the lives of children who have lost their parents on Sept. 11.
The group from has the chance to be a Grand Prize winner in the national Sing! competition and will donate $20,000 to the Michael Lynch Memorial Foundation if they win. This charity gives educational scholarships to students who lost parents on Sept. 11, 2001.
The group performed three songs Sept. 17 for the Sing! semifinals in Deer Park Town Center including Build Me Up Buttercup, When She Loves Me from the movie Toy Story 2 and Just Like That by Kevin Briody. They received a positive response from the judges.
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The performance was part of a nationwide competition for Developers Diversified Realty Corporation. Deer Park Town Center, one of DDR's properties, held performances Sept. 17 and will have more on Sept. 24.
Each participant had to perform three songs and one had to be an original version of a Briody song. .
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Bare Voices, made up of 18 students, sent in an audio recording of their original song, Build Me Up Buttercup, for the chance to audition for the semifinals. After being selected for the competition, the group practiced every day and had a three-day camp at the end of August to prepare.
“We had the chance to meet Kevin (Briody) yesterday,” said director Nick Juknelis. “We are prepared, but definitely a little nervous.”
For the Briody song, all the students were given was a sheet of lyrics and had to come up with the music.
“That was something we haven’t explored before,” Juknelis said.
Members of Bare Voices put their own twist on the other songs as well, Juknelis added.
Lauren Extrom, a senior in her second year with Bare Voices, said the group has a good team spirit.
“We’re like a little family and hope to do our best,” she said.
She liked that Bare Voices’ members had to test their musical ears for Briody’s song.
“We had to match notes up on piano and with individual voices,” Extrom said. “We proved that we are musicians. Some people say that singers are not as much of musicians as people who play instruments.”
Every contestant or group got a number and audience members could send a text to 55800 anytime from noon to midnight the day of the performance. Bare Voices' number was SING50. Audience members could vote up to five times for the singer/group of their choice. The same thing will take place at next week's competition.
Three soloists and three groups from each DDR shopping center will be chosen by 50 percent judges' votes and 50 percent text votes. The Deer Park Town Center winners will be announced the week of Sept. 26.
Winners from every DDR complex then will offer online videos of their performances for people to vote on to decide the last 11 finalists.
More online voting will take place until one national soloist and one national group are chosen for the grand prizes.
The grand prize for the winning group includes $20,000 to the charity of choice as well as a $5,000 MasterCard gift card. The grand prize for the soloist includes $5,000 to his or her charity and $2,500 in MasterCard gift cards. Both winners will get a personalized experience with Briody.
Briody was present for the performances and liked the different versions of his songs.
“It’s so cool,” he said. “It’s like somebody telling you that they love you. It’s different, new, inventive and a blast.”
Briody met with contestants the night before at Biaggis.
“The idea is to encourage and move people along and if I can do that, it’s nice,” he said.
Live performances will be held at 13 DDR shopping centers throughout the United States and Puerto Rico throughout the month.
“We ‘re really excited to be a part of it, it’s exciting to be able to come out and support them,” said Dawn Marie Lecklikner, regional vice president of shopping center marketing.
Semifinalists performed from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the gazebo area outside Brighton Collectibles and Brooks Brothers at the Deer Park Town Center. The rest of the semifinalists will perform Sept. 24 at the same place and time.
Performing Saturday, Sept. 24:
- Buffalo Grove — Donna Galloway
- Chicago — Martin Hughes
- Hoffman Estates — Do-Wop Crop
- Long Grove — Kate Diaz
- Oak Lawn — Canticum Choir
- Palatine — Erin Fisher; Midnight Blues
- St. Charles — Jamie Ann Dowat
