The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

First anniversary organ recital St. Jude's Anglican Church installed the three-manual Phoenix digital organ one year ago and Simon Walker came on as director of music at the same time. Now, the Oakville church is celebrating both with its first annual Anniversary Recital on Saturday (June 15). Walker will be the soloist for the concert, and will demonstrate the organ's versatility by playing the music of Johann Sebastien Bach and Dieterich Buxtehude. The recital will also include music from other French and English Romantic composers as well as Canadian composers, including Healey Willan who was organist and choir master of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Toronto. Walker was educated at Durham Cathedral Choir School, Edinburgh University and Chester Cathedral. Since arriving in Canada, the Yorkshireman has become known as an outstanding organ soloist and choral conductor. In the year since taking up his post at St. Jude's he has expanded the repertoire of the church's two choirs and, with assistant organist Andrei Streliaev, he has elevated the level of liturgical music in the parish, according to Doug Field, artist director of St. Jude's Celebration of the Arts. The Phoenix organ has 73 stops and 24 audio channels. It has audio samples taken from some of he world's finest pipe organs, allowing it to sound authentic to music from many time periods. The church is located at 160 William St. The concert starts at 8 p.m. Admission is free, but a freewill offering will be taken. For more information, visit www.oakvilleconcerts.com. Artscene 17 | Wednesday, June 12, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Oakville's Sydney Delong is pictured performing with Ryan Switzer at last Sunday's Summerfolk Tune-Up in Owen Sound. The singer-songwriter is performing at North by Northeast on Saturday. Submitted photo Singer Sydney Delong performing at NXNE by Dominik Kurek Oakville Beaver Staff STREETdog ARTSTUDiO hosts student exhibit The students of STREETdog ARTSTUDiO will be showcasing their work in a one-day exhibit Sunday (June 16). The exhibit will feature painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and print work by 48 artists aged seven to 18. The exhibit will be at 467 Speers Rd., Unit 15. It starts at 1 p.m. For more information, visit www. artstudiostreetdog.com. The Oakville Improv Theatre Company is hosting its Theatresports event at Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre Friday (June 14) at 8 p.m. The event will feature three-member teams Lost Boyz and Everett Cowlings Marketing Group & Spa against each other. Additionally, people will see Kerry Griffin (Second City), Kevin Frank (Second City), Lisa Merchant (three-time Canadian Comedy Award Winner), AJ Vaage (YTVs That's So Weird), Alastair Forbes (Second City) and Julie Dumais (Bad Dog). Chris New (Second City) is musical improviser and Cliff Murphy is host. The centre is located at 2302 Bridge Rd. Tickets cost $5. Theatresports this Friday Oakville singer-songwriter Sydney Delong will be performing at North by Northeast (NXNE), an annual music and arts festival in Toronto. The 17-year-old will be performing at C'est What Saturday (June 15) at 8 p.m. "I'm really thrilled. I'm so excited," the Grade 11 Iroquois Ridge High School student said. "Recently, when I stopped having to play guitar for myself and found a really serious guitarist, I found that I've entered this whole new world of performing and I feel so free about everything that I do. I'm happy that an event like this has taken me on and sees that as well that there's potential in someone young like me." The young musician said she's influenced by English folk-rock band Mumford & Sons, as well as indie folk band Bon Iver. She performs mostly original tunes, but throws in a cover here and there. The acoustic musician performs a style that ranges from blues and folk to rock and pop. "I'm really big on my lyrics and the mixture of that with instrumentation and how that comes together as a story," she said. She said she likes using metaphors in her music and writes about the tough moments in life. "It's nice for me to be able to write about the sad parts of my life and add some beauty to them. It makes things a little bit easier. I try to create something beautiful out of something that's not," she said. Delong has been taking vocal and guitar lessons for some years now, and became serious about music just more than two years ago, when she started writing her own music. She takes classes at Oakville's Massive Tank Studios and has been mentored by studio owner Ryan Switzer, who helps her write music, especially instrumentation. "That's where I learned to play guitar," she said. "He taught me how to seriously play and how to seriously write music in a more forward sense than just me writing for fun. He put a purpose to a lot of my stuff." Delong doesn't play the guitar on stage, instead has a guitarist playing with her, as well as a back up vocalist doing harmonies. Delong said she will be appearing before another acoustic band at C'est What, which is an appropriate sound for the venue. "The whole venue is really kind of earthy, so I think they matched the music really well to the C'est What venue," she said. A drawback for young musicians such as herself is they generally get to play their set and then have to leave. This time around NXNE is allowing her to stay with a chaperone. "They take people like me, who are only 17, really seriously. Sometimes they say you have to play and leave, which is a bummer because then I don't get to talk to the other ­ usually really great ­ artists. But they're letting me play and stay," she said. Being able to stay allows her to network, which is important for fledgling musicians. C'est What is located at 67 Front St. E. NXNE opened yesterday and ends Monday, June 17. For more information and tickets, visit www.nxne.com.