www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, October 13, 2016 | 6 Two Oakville natives on tour with Adele by Nathan Howes Special to the Beaver Spotlight "Connected to your Community" hen Adele rolled into Toronto last week for multiple shows at the Air Canada Centre (ACC), she brought some company from Oakville. Joining the Grammy Award-winning singer/ songwriter on tour is violinist and teaching artist Janey Choi, originally from Oakville. Also in the mix is photographer Alex Waespi, a former St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School and Iroquois Ridge High School (IRHS) student. While in Toronto (Oct. 4), Choi, 41, took time from her busy schedule to speak to the Oakville Beaver about her experience so far. "I've been having a really good time. For the string players, it's a really easy gig. We show up and the soundcheck is pretty consistent. We then hang out in catering," said Choi. "Fifteen minutes before showtime, we have to get on stage. All that time in between, we're getting ready and hanging out." Choi is performing on 18 of Adele's North American tour dates, primarily near the East Coast, including all four in Toronto and two in Montreal before that. She noted each show has a string section with four violins, two violas and two cellos. "Everything has been well-organized and put together. The sound guys are really good. A couple of the shows were really tight. I feel like everyone knows their roles. Everyone has made our jobs really easy," said Choi. "The rst time Adele came to North America for a tour (2008), when nobody knew who she was, she played shows in Toronto and Montreal with just a string quartet and her band." The day before the opening Toronto show (Oct. 2) was the rst time Choi had been inside the ACC. The Oct. 3 performance went well because "anytime I look around and see a big Maple Leaf... it makes me happy," she said. "When I left Oakville to move to New York in 1991, I don't think the Air Canada Centre was built, yet. The Leafs were still playing in Maple Leafs Gardens," said Choi. "To be in the building was sort of a novel experience for me. This idea of coming home to play for my fellow Canadians and being able to invite some of my childhood friends and family is always a nice feeling." This isn't the rst tour with Adele for Choi W A photo taken during one of the Adele concerts at the Air Canada Centre. Oakville native Janey Choi is a violinist, who is on tour with the superstar singer. Below, Choi, far left, in the dressing room preparing to go on stage | submitted photos -- she played shows with her in 2008 to promote the release of her debut album, 19. The shows included performances at the Grammy Awards and on Saturday Night Live (SNL), with the latter being a "pretty cool" experience for Choi, she said. "It (SNL) had the highest viewership rating ever, I think, at that point. Adele just happened to be lucky enough to be a guest on that episode. That blew it open for her in terms of the American audience," said Choi. When Adele toured her rst album, Choi said she was "sort of" having a hard time because she was homesick. Musically, though, she "sounded great back then and she sounds great now." "She was young and it wasn't the big-budget tour that it is now. It was her, the band and her manager, as well as an assortment of strings shipped in from New York. She wasn't extremely experienced as a performer and was really nervous," said Choi. In 2005, Choi met Rosie Danvers, the founder of Wired Strings -- a group specializing in arrangement, orchestration, recording and performance -- who needed an all-female string section to back up Kanye West for the Live 8 concert. Choi's collaboration with Danvers is how she rst got paired up with Adele for the 2008 tour. The Oakville violinist has also recorded and appeared onstage with Jay-Z, Beyoncé, U2's Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin and Elton John, just to name a few. "Since then (Live 8), every time there has been something in New York, I've been in contact with her. She just happened to get onboard early with Adele," said Choi. "I was lucky to get in to her shows at the beginning. Now, it's all paying off, I guess." Choi started playing piano at age ve, violin at age six and then took lessons with the Oakville Suzuki Association (OSA). "I started on the violin and my sister started on the cello. My sister was actually the rst one who wanted to take lessons and then our mom thought (we) should take them together," said Choi. "It was always my fun instrument (piano). I got to be a mediocre piano player, but I never really got that far, as I did with the violin." In New York, Choi attended the Juilliard School and graduated from the accelerated BM (bachelor of music)/MM (master of music) program with the Joseph Fuchs Graduation Prize. "In the summer of '91, it was this crazy decision to move to New York on my own and nish out high school. I just never left New York," said Choi. Waespi is a former St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School and Iroquois Ridge High School (IRHS) student, now residing in London, Ont. NEIL OLIVER Vice President and Group Publisher KELLY MONTAGUE Regional General Manager Volume 54 | Number 82 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington (905) 845-3824 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. 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