“Youth Stage is a showcase concert for local young performers to have a voice and gain experience while being supported by their communities,” Ray said.
Ray is a singer-songwriter, originally from Auckland, but was based in Cairns for eight years before she moved to Taupō recently. In Cairns, she ran music mentorship programmes for teenage girls.
“The growth opportunities these girls got were so transformative that I am inspired to continue creating these platforms for young musicians.”
Another performer at the concert will be Sienna Storm.
The 12-year-old singer-songwriter from Taupō says she loves performing and has recently started playing the guitar and writing her own songs.
She loves Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Lewis Capaldi, Ed Sheeran and Benson Boon, and is “super-excited” to be seeing Lauren Spencer Smith in Auckland at the end of the year.
Sienna performed in the Rising Stars Show last year in Taupō and made it through to the quarter-finals in 5 Minutes of Fame on Māori TV, where she was judged by Vince Harder, Bella Kalolo and Luke Bird, who described her as a “Billie Eilish petite pocket rocket”.
Other performers include Heidi Robertson, who says she’s a “bit nervous” about singing on stage for the first time, and Sienna Stevenson - who says she was “born to entertain” and has already clocked up a fair bit of stage time singing and performing musical theatre.
The MCs for the show, which runs from 4pm-7pm, are Joey Salonga and Lizzy Ramsay, who are both 14. Joey will also be singing a song and is “excited and scared at the same time”.
