Chris Everest is organising two classical concerts to raise funds and help give youth opportunities in music. Photo/Shauni James
Rotorua's Chris Everest, who plays classical guitar, has organised two classical concerts called 'A Journey - with the classical guitar'.
The first one will be held on Friday February 16, 7pm, and will include Chris performing duos with friends.
The second concert is on Sunday February 18, 2pm, and will be solo performances from Chris on classical guitar.
Both will take place at St Luke's Church.
The concerts will have door sales, with a koha entry.
Chris says he is heading back to university in March and decided he wanted to do something in Rotorua before he left.
He has teamed up with Rotorua Youth Centre manager Steve Holmes, and the proceeds from the concerts will go towards helping break monetary barriers for youth wanting to take part in music programmes through the centre.
Chris has been involved in music for 10 years and has done classical guitar for two years.
In March he will be going to back to study classical guitar at Victoria University.
"I like the idea, especially in Rotorua, of introducing people to sounds they wouldn't normally hear.
"For classical guitar, it's definitely not that prominent."
He encourages people to come along to the concerts because everyone performing will be local.
"You get to see people around town in a light you probably wouldn't normally."
He says it is also a chance for people to experience different sounds, as music played in the concerts will include pieces from other countries, such as Spain and Paraguay.
"It's opening people up to new sounds, and obviously we are funding a good cause."
Other local performers are Douglas Patterson on the cello, Anna Pilaar on violin, Mark Dennenbring on flute, Claire Cavanagh on guitar and Rob Britain on saxophone.
There are possibly other duos to be confirmed.
Rotorua Youth Centre manager Steve Holmes says it is one thing organising a concert, and another having the desire to make it impact something else.
He says the centre has programmes such as singing, dance, lyric writing acting and aerosol art, and while the centre always has the programmes at a minimal cost, for some youth it is still a barrier.
"This is an opportunity to remove that and make it accessible for anyone."
He says the centre is appreciative of this opportunity.
As the crowd chanted, Seymour walked back into the Beehive with his MPs.