More than 300 music lovers attended Toronto’s Opera House on June 4 for Face the Music, a fundraising event that combined the ethos of the Dragons’ Den arena and the energy and musical elements of The Voice.
The event was organized by Community Connect, a young adult engagement arm of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto. Finalists were given the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience and a panel of judges from the music industry.
Among the finalists were London, Ont.-based band Kid Royal, along with Toronto singer Lauren Mandel, who performed her original song Trouble, which was hard, if not impossible not to sing along to. Joining her in the competition was fellow Torontonian, Tali Kouch, 19, who performed a soulful ballad for the crowd as well as Zach Salsberg, who as a young boy underwent six months of chemotherapy at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children after receiving a diagnosis of a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Both his passion for music and unwavering perseverance paid off, as he took home the overall winning prize awarded by a crowd vote during the show’s finale. The prize was for the chance to play a 30-minute spot at Toronto’s legendary Horseshoe Tavern in October.
When asked about what they were most looking forward to at Face the Music, Kid Royal band member Kevin Valkenier said, “Playing at the Opera House!”
He continued, “This is a place [that] most bands in Toronto [have played] who have influenced me since I was 14 years old and I dreamt about playing at a place like this!”
Face the Music raised $30,000 which was directed through UJA’s annual campaign to help fund summer camp scholarships for children in need in the Greater Toronto community. Kid Royal’s guitarist Cormac Elmes said, “It’s a great cause; [it is] important to send kids to camp.” Kid Royal performed a Sam Smith cover and energized the room with their original track, Skydive which was met with praise from both the crowd and the judges.
The judges included Mike Turner, one of the founding members of Canadian band Our Lady Peace and Justin Bieber’s musical director and lead guitarist, Dan Kanter. Each judge offered prizes to the finalists of their choice, including studio recording time, promotional and marketing advice, vocal lessons, and equipment.
For instance, Jeff Wolpert, of Desert Fish Studios, offered 10 hours of recording time, while agent and talent manager Joel Baskin of The Feldman Agency presented his choice with a consulting session with the agency.
Sam Moyal, manager of community development at Community Connect said they weren’t aiming for a “Battle of the Bands.”
“[As] a singer-songwriter, I am passionate about performing and I wanted to do something for other musicians,” Moyal said. “We had this eureka moment to do this musical Dragons’ Den-type event and as we continued working on it and getting the judges on board, it really came together and it was something that has not been done before. I am really proud of the way it turned out.”
When interviewing contenders for the event, Moyal said that they “wanted a connection to the cause, so we asked applicants if they had ever been to camp before as part of the application. We ended up with a really interesting group of people!”
He said every finalist ended up teaming with at least one judge. “They got to partner up with one of the judges to be able to move their career forward. That is what we were aiming to do. ”
