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SYDNEY — The irony of the song she performed for Queen Elizabeth II isn’t lost on Aselin (Debison) Ettinger.
Back in 2002, the Glace Bay-born singer-songwriter was invited to sing for the late monarch and her husband Prince Phillip during a Golden Jubilee Gala concert at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto.
The song she chose was “To Say Goodbye to You,” from her album “Sweet is the Melody.”
“It’s kind of eerie when you think about it now,” said Ettinger, 32, who is now a physical education teacher at Meadowfields Community School in Yarmouth.
Her husband Jonathan Ettinger, who is also from Glace Bay, is principal at Digby Regional High School and they have a six-year-old son Garrison.
TOP TALENT
Just 12 years old at the time, Ettinger shared the stage that night with some of Canada’s top talent, including the Oscar Peterson Quartet, the Tragically Hip, Ginette Reno, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Cirque du Soleil. However, she was more nervous about meeting the royal couple than performing for them.
“It was definitely nerve-racking,” she said.
“At the end of the concert when everybody finished performing they had all of the artists and musicians line up so that she and Prince Phillip could make their way across the stage to do a meet-and-greet and to say thank you. Of course, there were very strict protocols as to what you could and couldn’t do. As she came by you weren’t allowed to initiate eye contact or to reach out — she had to initiate all of the movements and conversations.”
LEARNING TO CURTSY
She also had to learn how to curtsy for the occasion.
“I was a very athletic kid but I wasn’t necessarily a very graceful kid,” she said.
“So on top of having to wear a gown and wearing heels, I had to learn how to do a proper curtsy and not topple over in said heels. It was an interesting endeavour but I can say that I pulled it off so it was good.”
Looking back, Ettinger said the Golden Jubilee Gala concert was one of the highlights of her career along with playing at Carnegie Hall.
PRAISE FROM THE PRINCE
She said the Queen complimented her on her performance and composure onstage but the words of praise from Prince Phillip stood out the most.
“The Queen was very pleasant — she seemed to enjoy herself,” she recalled.
“Meeting the Queen, things that stood out were I’m wearing heels and I’m almost as tall as she is, and I’m not a very tall person. Just having her say that she very much enjoyed the performance and how comfortable I seemed to be onstage was really great.
“But I always say that what I will always remember is actually what Prince Phillip had to say about the performance because he expressed that he was upset that he wouldn’t have the opportunity to hear me perform more while they were visiting because they were moving on to the next part of their tour. He said that he’s a fan, that he really enjoyed Celtic and folk music, which makes sense because he had such a love for being in Scotland at Balmoral, as did the Queen, and where I was a folk artist or a Celtic artist at the time, that just lit me right up — that was very, very special for me.”
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