2007 Juno Nominees, Donna Rhodenizer and Andy Duinker have been performing professionally together since 1996. Andy's extensive vocal range and guitar, Donna's keyboard and vocals, and the addition of violin create a versatile and varied performance. Donna & Andy have performed for over 250,000 audience members in 1000 performances throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The songs on their Juno nominated CD "Dinosaurs, Dragons and Me" are in a variety of musical styles and instrumental arrangements, creating an exciting listening experience. Donna & Andy are also joined by some of the finest studio musicians including Greg Simm, Gordon Stobbe, Jamie Gatti, Chris Mitchell, Don Chapman, Ross Billard, John Scott, Jennifer Wyatt and Jamie Robinson who bring their instrumental expertise to the songs. Donna's younger relatives including Jenna Richards, Nathan Taylor and Dominique Zwicker provide some of the youthful voices on the recording. The 12 songs on this CD are presented in two versions: full performance tracks, as well as instrumental tracks. The instrumental tracks are often used for song presentations by elementary students who sing along for elementary school concerts and assemblies.
The Juno nominated, "Dinosaurs, Dragons and Me" also recently received an ECMA nomination and a Music Nova Scotia Award. This CD can also be used with the "Dinosaurs, Dragons and Me" songbook or Teacher's Resource. This follows a long tradition for Donna & Andy in developing music resources for elementary school music programs now being distributed throughout North America.
Donna & Andy's recording entitled "It's Christmas Time" was nominated for a 2007 ECMA for Children's Recording of the Year. Their "Computer Cat" CD garnered a 2004 ECMA Award for Children's Recording of the Year as well as receiving a 2003 Music Nova Scotia nomination. Donna Rhodenizer also received a Music Nova Scotia nomination for Educator of the Year in 2003, 2004 and 2006.
In addition to performing, composing and recording, Donna & Andy also co-founded Red Castle Publishing to print and distribute their original music to schools and choirs across Canada and the U.S. They have published over 60 original songs in a series of four songbooks and 15 individual titles for choirs. Donna & Andy are ready to start working on their second collection of original Christmas songs by Donna entitled "Christmas Encore" slated for release in the fall of 2008.
Most music products including CDs and songbooks developed by Donna Rhodenizer, Andy Duinker and Red Castle Publishing are approved by the Nova Scotia Department of Education as Approved Learning Resources. The Department of education has confirmed the quality of Donna & Andy's original music and resources by purchasing two of the song collections for every elementary school in Nova Scotia.
Within the past 11 years, Donna & Andy and Red Castle Publishing have distributed 14,000 copies of their CDs, 2500 songbooks and over 12,000 copies of single sheet music of their original songs.
Listen to Donna & Andy CDs at this link: http://cdbaby.com/all/donnaandandy