Regina Symphony Orchestra puts on special performance at Autism Resource Centre

The Regina Symphony Orchestra gave the gift of music to the Autism Resource Centre this year.

The symphony performed many different songs, including some Christmas favourites, as a part of the centre’s open house. This was the second year the symphony performed at the centre.

“It’s a great way to spread some holiday cheer,” Simon MacDonald, concert master with the symphony, said. “It’s good for the community, it’s good for the orchestra and it’s important for the people who can’t typically go to a concert hall, or wouldn’t be comfortable going to a concert hall, we’re small and flexible enough that we can get into a room like this and bring the concert to them instead.”

Those in the audience were singing along with the Christmas carols and even helped the band by jingling their keys to replicate the sound of bells for a song.

“I was looking around and I was noticing people looking very relaxed and happy and very engaged,” Keely Wight, executive director at the Autism Resource Centre, said.

Wight also said she is hopeful the symphony performance will become an annual event and the feedback she has received has been nothing but positive.