An award-winning tenor is lending his big voice to help raise money for the local women's shelter.
L'Invitation Au Voyage: A Benefit Concert for the Central Alberta Women's Emergency Shelter will be held Nov. 17 at 3 p.m., at Sunnybrook United Church. Admission is $25 cash at the door.
David Gibbons, a helden tenor who was born and raised in Red Deer, has sung both in North America and Europe, coached with the Canadian Opera Company, and won an award in 2010 with Metropolitan Opera Company.
Annette Bradley, who is president of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers' Association, a local teacher and pianist for the Central Alberta Chamber Orchestra, will collaborate on piano.
Together Gibbons and Bradley will perform selections from Duparc, De Curtis, Respighi, Tosti, Andrew Lloyd Webber and more at the 90-minute event, that will include an intermission.
"I'm really happy with this program. I think we've got a nice blend," said Gibbons about the music that the audience should recognize, along with some surprises.
"There will be something they haven't heard before, but hopefully they leave with the same passion for the music that I have."
Gibbons' last performance in Red Deer, where he still has family, was in 2009. He recently moved back to the city and has been working with the University of Alberta.
The singer said he wanted to hold a benefit concert for the women's shelter after reading an article in the Advocate published in August about the 1,345 women and 930 children that the Red Deer facility could not accommodate in the last fiscal year due to the size of the shelter.
"It was disappointing to know how many people they had no choice but to turn away."
Construction on a project to build a new shelter started in May 2023, and Phase 1 opened to clients last month. A $2-million fundraising campaign is underway to furnish and equip the site.
Gibbons said the concert will raise funding for the expansion project and awareness of the shelter's work, along with bringing some of the male operatic repertoire to Red Deer.
