It’s a big year for a popular local singing competition.

The 15th anniversary of RichCity Idol is just a couple of weeks away and will feature some of the top high school singing talent in town.

Tickets for the Wednesday, May 30 event at Gateway Theatre are $12 ahead of time, and $15 at the door.

Here are this year’s performers, who introduce themselves in their own words.

Darren Zhang

My name is Darren Zhang. I am 18 years old. I think music has the function of influencing one’s sentiments and purifying one’s mind. It helps me to build up my individuality and become more loving and brave. I’ve learnt to play the piano over the past 12 years; I believe music is one of the best cures for distress. The slower, ambient tracks like Chopin stimulate a change in a person’s brain pattern, encouraging alpha waves and inducing a feeling of well-being. In my first year of high school, I started a glee club with my friends. We performed the play Beauty and the Beast by Linda Woolverton, sang Christmas songs at school on Christmas, and donated money to the charity house. Before I came to Canada, I participated in The Voice China and got the ticket to proceed to the provincial final. I felt very nervous about performing on a stage of that magnitude. Starting then, I had gradually overcome the psychological tension, as I had slowly come to learn how to relieve stress through music. I succeed by conquering the negative inflection derived from stress. Not only do I feel relaxed when I play music alone, but additionally so when people are around me. When they feel tired and stressed, I play the piano and sing for them to help them relax. I feel satisfied knowing that not only does the music I play give me joy, but also the people around me.

Tiana Noureddin

My name is Tiana Noureddin, and I am 17 years old. Music has been an integral part of all aspects of my life, and has slowly helped me build up my confidence. From performing at recitals, to singing in front of my school, it has given me so many opportunities, and has brought new friends into my life that I wouldn't have connected with otherwise. For me, music is a universal way to connect with people, and i hope to be able to keep doing that throughout my life.

Jeremy Tong

My name is Jeremy Tong. I believe music has affected my life in a truly profound way. Music has been the only thing that I’ve been kind of good at, even though I'm not the best at studying. Music also made me become more confident. When I was little I used to be shy, but I began expressing myself through music. Whenever I found difficulty in studying, it would be extremely uncomfortable. I'm not the best in studying. Because of that, I would always worry about my future. However, having music in my life always provided me with a chance for escapism and comfort, and eventually would help with my confidence significantly. In terms of my goals, I’ve always hoped to use my music to help people. Especially, if someone were to have mental anxiety, pressure, or stress. I hope the music that I make could one day make them feel better. Being able to help people through being a therapist is one of the biggest things that I want to do as my future career.

Julien Norrish

Hi, my name is Julien Norrish, I am 17 years old, and my biggest influence is my mother. She has been the most influential person in my entire life! Anything that happens to me, whether I feel sad, happy, or confident, about something, she’s always there to boost me up. Music has always been a part of my life. In other words, you could say that music was my first and forever my best friend. Music has allowed me to express my deepest emotions that are typically hidden from view, to escape from all my problems and sing my heart out, and to just live in the moment. Growing up I struggled with a lot of things, in school I didn’t have promising grades, for me they were always enough to get through. I also struggled with my voice, I wasn’t all too confident while I was growing up as my voice had its highs and lows all across the board. However, that didn’t stop me from singing. Luckily I had parents whoendured several moments of my awkward cracking voice. As for my goals, I’ve always dreamt of becoming a performer or entertainer. When I was younger, I’d always ask my family if I could do a mini performance after dinner, whether it be singing, dancing, lip-syncing, or even both. Performing gave me the opportunity to express myself, as it is one of the many things that I continue to love to this day.

Francis Naluz

My name is Francis Naluz, and I am 18 years old. My biggest influence is my former music teacher, Ms. Berman. She always pushed me to succeed and to work hard to reach my goals, and she has done an excellent job. I aim to do for other people what has been done for me with music. I dream of playing a huge concert to people who feel a connection with my music, and I want to inspire others the way I was inspired to chase my dreams and put the effort in to be the best person I can be.

Flora Chen

Hey, my name is Flora Chen, and I’m 17 years old. I’d say my biggest influence would always have to be my parents. When I was younger, my English was quite limited. I could honestly say that listening to music, and singing along to songs is how I learned the language. Music has been a vital part of my life ever since I could remember; it is a method for me to express myself and release my emotions in a way that normal words could not.

Orvy Agoncillo

Music became a big part of my life since I was a kid, whenever I’d have personal problems, it would always there for me. I learned a lot from it through the different songs that I learned and listened to. Every song would always have its own meaning to me and it'd always be so relatable for me especially, through a lot of obstacles in my life. I auditioned from last year’s Palmer idol competition, but I did not make it. That is why at this time I’m so glad to be part of it, and am not going to take it for granted. My goal is to be successful in the future as a professional singer, and above all else make my parents proud.

Ysabelle Santa Ana

My name is Ysabelle Santa Ana and I'm 17 years old. My biggest musical influence would probably be Tori Kelly because I just love what she stands for and how raw and genuine she is when she sings. For as long as I can remember, music has been an outlet for me to share my feelings and express my true self. My biggest goal would just be to keep singing. While I don’t exactly plan to make a career out of it, I want music to be something that will always be a significant part of my life.

Kiran Bassi

Music has been a part of my life for a long time, and has affected me by giving me something that I can always kind of hold on to, if that makes sense. For the majority of my life so far, I’ve been pretty shy, and never really the best at making friends, so I had a lot of time to feel terrible about myself, and I kind of channeled that into music, which helped a lot.

Augusto Tonial

Hello my name is Augusto Gallon Tonial. I’m 18 years old. Music has always been a big part of my life, I learned how to play instruments when I was four and never stopped. Music helps me to make new friends as well as to communicate with other people. Thanks to that I am in RichCity Idol 2018, and am hopefully able to one day meet my biggest influence the renowned Brazilian singer Armandinho. But above all else, I am going to represent Brazil and my school, Hugh Boyd.