Concert Series Line-Up for
the Summerside Arts Festival
Festival dates for concerts/ street performances and demonstrations are July 22 - July 24th.
The Summerside Arts Festival, presented by Wyatt Heritage Properties Inc., has announced the performance line-up for the concert component of the July event, which celebrates the City and Island arts communities, while developing new audiences for the vast array of talent.
The evening concerts are hosted on the lawn of the beautiful Wyatt Heritage Properties, located in the downtown historic residential district of Summerside. The simple outdoor stage, nestled beneath century old trees on the expansive Wyatt lawn, offers a perfect venue for performers and audiences. Summerside Trinity United Church is the rain venue.
Monday, July 22nd - Daniel Drouin and The Ellis Family Band
On stage the first evening of the festival will be Daniel Drouin and The Ellis Family Band. Danny Drouin is a singer-songwriter from Western PEI who released his first feature length solo album, It’s Been a long Week, in July 2017. Drouin won the Cover Band/Artist of the Year Award at the 2019 Music PEI Awards. Danny started song writing and playing guitar at thirteen. He formed his first band Wreckless at fifteen and has continued on building a music career. Currently he does solo acoustic shows and plays with his band Renegade.
The Summerside Ellis Family Band is a favourite of Island audiences. Formed in the mid-1970s, the band quickly made national waves. They released 20 singles off of their three Nashville recorded albums with each single making the top 50 national charts. In 1988 they achieved a career highlight by charting a #1 song, Thank You for Being My Friend, penned by bassist Greg MacDonald. The band picked PEI over a Nashville career and retired in 1999. Their “second career” started in 2005 with a few select performance dates each year.
Tuesday, July 23 - Soul Filter and Rachel Beck
After sixteen years of performing in pop-rock cover bands, Summerside’s Karen and Mike Penton formed Soul Filter in 2017, to write and perform their own music. Baring a unique, yet reminiscent vibe to the 90’s soft rock female era, the Island duo get their musical inspiration from artists like The Cranberries, Alanis Morissette & Sheryl Crow. December 2018 saw the release of their debut album, A Minor Conspiracy. This past February, they were voted into the Top 100 in CBC's Searchlight 2019 with their song, Like Water.
Prince Edward Island singer-songwriter Rachel Beck, now embarking on a solo career, is already making her mark on the national scene with a hit debut release. Beck’s self-titled, multi award-nominated album came out on March 2, 2018. On March 8, its first single, Reckless Heart, hit #1 on the CBC Music Top 20 after having the most online votes for 6 weeks straight. Beck garnered a SOCAN #1 Award, and took home the New Artist of the Year Award and the Pop Recording of the Year Award from the 2019 Music PEI Awards.
Wednesday, July 24th - Nick Doneff and Nathan Wiley
Nick Doneff is a staple within the PEI music scene as a sideman and multi-instrumentalist. Following the December 2016 release of his debut recording, Doneff has been attracting attention for his earnest song writing and his magnetic live performances. His song Old Dog was also recently featured on CBC’s flagship arts and culture program, Q, where host Tom Power described him as a cross between John Prine and Joel Plaskett.
Hailing from Summerside, three-time ECMA award, and five-time Music PEI award winning artist Nathan Wiley, has shared the stage with artists like Blue Rodeo, Sarah Harmer, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Matt Mays, Ron Sexsmith and many more. Wiley first earned acclaim for his 2002 debut BOTTOM DOLLAR. He made good on the promise of that release two years later with the follow up HIGH LOW. Next came THE CITY DESTROYED ME then BANDITS that was nominated for four Music PEI Awards. Nowadays he splits his time between writing new material, producing other Maritime acts, and scoring short and feature length films.
* Due to unforeseen circumstances Meaghan and Bridgette Blanchard will no longer be performing this night. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Admission to the concerts is by donation.
In order to be guaranteed a seat people are invited to bring their own.
Other components of the Summerside Arts Festival, for which the schedule will soon be released, includes the Refresh recycling project , art and music street demonstrations and performances, talks and more.
This Festival is made possible in part through funding by the Government of Canada
