Kingston, Ont. high school readies for performance at Canada’s top theme park

The Regiopolis-Notre Dame senior concert band continues to make a name for itself.

A couple of weeks ago, the high school band captured a silver medal in a national competition and later this week, they get to play at Canada’s Wonderland.

Performing at Wonderland is nothing new for a Regi. In fact it’s sort of a tradition, as a concert band has already played there 22 times over the past number of decades.

“Wonderland I use as a performance opportunity normally for the junior band which is just grade nines and 10s, but because the senior band, most of them, all but one haven’t been on our major band trips because of COVID … I decided that this year that I was going to take the junior band and the senior band so that they could have a trip experience,” said Justine Lord, who is a music teacher and head of the arts department.

“We were going to go to New York this year but with COVID we had to cancel it, so Wonderland is going to make up for that and just be an incredible experience and I’m really excited for myself and all of my fellow bandmates to experience what it’s like to go on a trip again,” added Asher Herx, a senior band member.

Herx says a road trip is a bonding experience.

As the school year comes to an end, it really is a case of no rest for the weary.

For those that don’t know, members from this group helped to provide the music for the school’s theatrical productions, the latest of which was High School Musical. 

This year’s other accomplishment includes picking up a national silver medal at the Musicfest Canada competition.

“Having doing the pandemic for a couple of years and still being in the pandemic and facing those challenges we placed very well in all of Canada, not many people can say the same. Some schools I know for sure had to stop their band programs and some schools unfortunately no longer have band programs,” said band co-president Jeremy Daigle.

“Being able to be creative and express yourself and to find friends that are just like you, I think that’s the best part about the music program. You find the people who are just like you and those friendships almost always last,” said Lord.

Over the years, Regiopolis-Notre Dame bands have travelled to a number of destinations including Carnegie Hall in New York.