Memories Of The Toronto American Idol Performance

July 27, 2008 by Masterclass Lady 9 Comments


There will be more pictures in the coming days. Enjoy!

American Idol, Entertainment, Masterclass Lady, Music, Rosanne Simunovic

About Masterclass Lady

Rosanne (Giallonardo) Simunovic began her musical career in Timmins, Ontario. She studied piano with Anne Pizzale and later, at an advanced level, with Soeur Anita Vaugeois (Sister Cecile of Les Soeurs De L’Assomption in Timmins). Her vocal and accompaniment skills were nurtured by her aunt, the late Dorothea Mascioli. When Rosanne graduated from O’Gorman High School, she moved on to the University of Toronto where she continued her piano and vocal studies while attaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was hired as a piano accompanist for several musical companies, most notably, the National Ballet Of Canada. She presently holds an A.R.C.T. Teacher’s Diploma in Voice from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Rosanne has studied choral conducting with numerous well known Canadian Conductors, including Wayne Riddell of Montreal, Quebec and the internationally renowned Dr. Elmer Iseler. She has been a founding member of numerous community-based arts organizations: the Timmins Arts Council, later known as Arts & Culture Timmins, the Timmins Symphony Orchestra, and, the Timmins Youth Singers…as well as the TYS Alumnus choir, the Timmins Concert Singers. In 1987, she was also selected to be the conductor of the Timmins Board Of Education Choir, comprised of talented students from Grades 5 to 8. In 1988, she was elected to the Board Of Directors of the Ontario Choral Federation (now known as Choirs Ontario), where she served as Chair of the Festivals Committee for six consecutive seasons. In 1996, in honour of the Ontario Choral Federation’s 25th Anniversary, Rosanne was selected as one of 25 recipients of the OCF’s Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contribution to the choral art. The ceremony was presided by Lieutenant Governor, Hal Jackman. In November 1997, Rosanne Simunovic was selected by the Rotary Club Of Timmins to receive the prestigious Paul Harris Award for her years of dedication to the artistic development of young musical talent in Timmins. In August of 2002, Rosanne Simunovic was selected by the Board Of Directors of Choirs Ontario to serve as Conductor of both the Provincial Junior and Teen Choir Camps, now renamed in honour of the Camp Benefactors, Don and Lillian Wright. In November 2002, Rosanne was the one of the recipients of the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, honouring her work in the development of the arts in Timmins. Under Rosanne Simunovic’s direction, the Timmins Youth Singers and the Timmins Concert Singers have been featured in numerous choral festivals and performing opportunities outside of Timmins. In 1985, they were selected to partici
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9 Responses to “Memories Of The Toronto American Idol Performance”

  1. wadahoot July 28, 2008 at 2:37 am

    “Archie STILL trying to make a graceful exit” HAHHAAAAA!

    MCL, it is wonderful that you are willing to share your upclose and personal experience with us. Thanks SO much!

    If viewer want the pictures to hold still you can click “View All Images” right under the slide show. I love the way it looks the way you have it set up, MCL, but I also wanted to be able to slow it down to study each one. (no offense intended, of course!)

    Hugs,
    Anita

  2. kathylmh July 28, 2008 at 9:44 am

    I, too, had to ‘slow down the show’ to savor each picture. Thank you for sharing, MCL! You look happy, David looked happy. I’m happy. Can’t wait until my tour date, which is STILL several weeks away.

  3. masterclasslady July 28, 2008 at 10:22 am

    haha. That slide show is kind of psychotic isn’t it? It looks great, but it is hard to savor the moment.

    Thanks Wadahoot for explaining the “slow down” process to the readers.

    My daughters actually have some very good pictures of me and some of the singers and some great stage shots as well.

    It may take time to co-ordinate this, but I will have them up ASAP.

    I know you are wanting to know about all the yadda yadda stuff, so I will work on my AI memoir today. It was great, let me tell you – but I guess you realize that by now!

  4. bizzee24 July 28, 2008 at 11:47 am

    Wow! So I have just been sitting here taking everything in that you have written about the performance/your trip to Toronto. I can tell you had a fantastic time! What an awesome opportunity to meet these fantastic singers.
    My jaw has hit the floor from looking at your pictures…you actually got to meet them!! WOW! What a moment this must have been for you! I cannot wait to see more pictures and read up on more of this wonderful journey you had!

    Thank you so much, MCL, for sharing your personal experience! You really are wonderful!!!

  5. kariann1 July 29, 2008 at 11:09 am

    Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful memories, MCL. This slide show is so cool! You looked so happy. How wonderful that you got to share this evening with your daughters. You may recall that I also went with my daughter. We still talk about it now.

  6. debintoronto July 29, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    MCL – I wrote you a letter back in 2004 telling you how my Idol experience was never complete till I read your wonderful critiques of the performances (you kindly responded too!). Thanks once more for your keen observances at the Toronto AI7 show. I had incredible seats too: 2 rows behind Debra Byrd on the Left side of the stage (it worked out to be 5th row), and our seats were on the aisle therefore we stood right below the performers – literally 5-6 feet away from them!) I went through the auction and those seats were worth every penny!

    You have so eloquently expressed the musical aspects of the concert, so I’ll add in a few of my own observances. I think the Idols were pleasantly surprised by both the size and certainly the energy of the concert; considering it was in Canada and many hadn’t been here before. As a 3rd generation Torontonian, this made me very proud.

    Chikeze: – said he loved it here and was a very compelling performer – energetic opening to the concert.

    Ramiele: – I’d forgotten about the mike problem – she was adorable and very good.

    Michael J: Cute comment from him – he leaned into the mike and said (almost under his breath) “well I must admit it’s rather nice being back in the commonweath”…hahaha – I thought that was a priceless comment. His low placement in the competition could be because he was clearly not American born.

    Carly: I LOVE Carly – always did and she looks absolutely fantastic!! I was 5 or 6 feet away from her right arm tattoo, and television sure does magnify things! Firstly, Carly is a smallish person – has a lovely figure and the tat is nowhere near as garish as it appears on TV. She radiates joy and I love her voice.

    Brooke: She said her husband was born in Toronto and raised in Nova Scotia, so she’s familiar with Canada. I loved her set.

    Jason: Yes, I agree it seemed a shorter set than the others, but he was great too.

    Syesha: Great balls of fire, that girl is stunning! Such an athletic body (Kristy Lee also has that athletic look) and fabulous singer. She gave my friend “goosebumps” with her singing. Friendly banter with the audience included how she loved Toronto and how the idols enjoyed their day off shopping and looking around.

    David A: Well, what more need I add to MCL’s recap! The screaming was ear shattering and David A gave one of the funniest comments of the evening: After a prolonged 2 minute screamfest response to one of his performances, and as Archie was smilingly looked out at the ecstastic crowd of 10,000 plus people, he giggled and said, “I didn’t know there were this many people in Canada!”…..

    The Cookster: Okay – I’m a DC fan, and this was the highlight of the show for me. I was so happy to read MCL’s comments about DC’s performance because I was so mesmerized by standing about 6 feet away from him! He started out his set with the following comment, “I met with a young girl today who was just diagnosed with leukemia” and to me he just seemed a little down and preoccupied with life’s difficulties. It’s not that it affected his performance, per se, but I still had the feeling that it weighs so heavy on his heart all this cancer stuff, particularly when it strikes the young. He also pointed to the “AC” on his guitar, and said something like, “it makes you wonder what’s important in life (as if comparing the importance of an Idol concert to a life threating disease). I also wonder if rather than having a day off like the other idols, he had to fly back to LA to work on his record?

    Anyhow – the concert was a HUGE success, and the Candians showed the LOVE for those American Idols; I am certain they were very pleased and will all come back to Canada to perform when possible.

    Thanks Rosanne for a great website and for making all our Idol experiences more complete!

  7. kariann1 August 2, 2008 at 2:05 am

    Thank you debintoronto for sharing your thoughts! Very nice recap.

  8. masterclasslady August 2, 2008 at 9:40 am

    Thank you DebInToronto for your excellent recap and it is great to hear from you again! You had fantastic seats. Good for you.

    And, I missed that priceless Archie comment about the numbers of people in Canada. haha

    I think all the singers were overwhelmed to the Canadian response to their success. They had no idea the show was so huge in our country. Oh yes it is – BIG TIME! Especially this year.

  9. masterclasslady August 2, 2008 at 9:42 am

    KariAnn – my daughters still talk about the show, as do I of course. So nice to share the experience with our daughters, wasn’t it?

    Bizzee – I had such a great time at the party. Everyone was extremely relaxed and down to earth. It was a beautiful, but short, evening.

    Thanks for you comments – always appreciated.

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