The local singing duo known as Kate and Mitch will be performing during a talent competition at the Calgary Stampede.
The 11-year-old brother and sister Stephanie and Andrew Warnick were selected to compete in the 27th Calgary Stampede Talent Search Competition.
The duo will be performing on July 14 in the Boyce Theatre on the Stampede grounds.
“We are so excited to have been selected,” said Curtis Warnick, the duo’s father.
After hearing about the competition at a workshop put on by the Stampede - about performing on stage - the duo sent in an audition tape.
The judges like the submission enough to offer them an in-person audition. This was a three-day process, according to Warnick.
He said each performer had only two minutes on stage to perform a piece of their act or song during the auditions.
“It was a three-day process for us. We had to go down to Calgary and wait while it was whittled down,” Warnick explained.
The Junior Competition, ages 6-12, are not eligible for the cash prizes given out in the competition proper.
Instead those selected from the audition process are given the opportunity to perform during one night of the competition.
“I guess for the junior their prize is getting to perform on the big stage during the show,” said Warnick.
The duo will be performing the Beatles classic song “Here Comes the Sun” on July 14th.
To add to the experience of singing on the big stage, the duo will be backed by a band provided by the Stampede.
This is a bit different from the way the two normally perform, with just themselves and their instruments on the stage.
The band will add to the performance, said Warnick.
“Stephanie will be singing lead and playing the guitar while Andrew will play the piano and sing back,” he explained.
With the addition of the band, the duo will receive the chance to practise with them before the big performance that evening.
On top of the big stage performance, the dup will be singing twice more during Stampede.
On July 11, they will be singing both the Canadian and American national anthems before the Calgary Stampede rodeo events being.
On the final day of Stampede, July 16, the duo will also be singing the Canadian anthem.
“They are so excited and been practising a lot,” said Warnick.
The kids will have a busy summer, as only two weeks after the performance at Stampede, Kate and Mitch will be heading to K-Day to sing again.
“We sent in our audition tape and they just kind of said ‘Oh you made it through at the Stampede? You are in the semi-finals,’” Warnick said.
The 11-year-olds will be singing the same song at K0days as well.
Anyone looking to catching Kate and Mitch’s performance July 14 at the Calgary Stampede Talent Search can do so for free, as long as they have paid to get into the Stampede.
The performances begin at 6:30 p.m. on July 14.