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Young performers, guitars and portfolios in hand, milled about a hallway on the third floor of the Liberty Market building, awaiting their turn for 10 minutes to show their stuff in front of a panel of judges.

WideAwake Entertainment was hosting open auditions looking for Toronto’s most talented to perform live at Blunt Magazine’s annual Under the Mistletoe “Toronto’s Got Talent”.

The open call auditions took place Nov. 27 at the WideAwake Studios on Liberty Village.

Sitting in a chair and listening to an iPod, 25-year-old singer/songwriter Oriana Cheung, from Richmond Hill didn’t appear nervous about her upcoming audition.

She went to high school with some of the organizers of the event and they encouraged her to come out and audition. She says she takes every musical opportunity that comes her way.

“I was a part of a battle of the bands in the summer and they came out to do a story about me for Blunt Magazine,” she said. “That’s when they came in the loop about my singing career because we had been out of touch before that.”

She was planning to sing two of the own songs off her upcoming album, tentatively titled Release.

Sarah-Jean Villa, another 25-year-old singer/songwriter, came in to audition from Mississauga. The singer, actor and model came out to the audition with her friend and fellow performer, Marc Ellis. 

Opportunities like this, she said, allow her to get her music out as well as support worthy causes.

Ellis, a 26-year-old composer, performers contemporary, new age ballads and free improvisation.

“It’s always good to give back to the community; as well these charitable events are a good way for up and coming artists to get some exposure,” he said. “It helps us and it helps them so in the end everyone wins.”

One by one, each is called in to perform. On the way out of his audition 19-year-old Ryan Echlin, of Bloor West, felt good about his performance of a original song ‘A Life to Live’.

“It was pretty sweet, I didn’t expect it to be the way it was. I didn’t expect cameras to be around,” Echlin said. “It felt good to be in the spotlight.” 

Avik Basu, CEO and creative director of Blunt Magazine, a monthly Canadian online magazine, explained that the fifth annual event  tries to raise funds to benefit one of the charities they have worked with in the magazine’s coverage throughout the year.

“Usually it’s one that we feel closely aligned with,” Basu said “This year it is the Orion Foundation that we picked. The Orion Foundation works to provide HIV and AIDS medication and medical supplies to sub-Saharan African children and we just felt that was a really worthwhile cause.” 

Sean Jones, a WideAwake artist, is featured as the headliner and will be performing tracks from his latest EP, This is Love. Originally Basu said four of the acts that auditioned were chosen for the bill, but they eventually selected six acts. A total of 12 acts came out to audition. 

“We cut it to six because the scoring between our top six was so close there really wasn’t a fair way to just cut it down to four,” Basu said. “Some of the up and coming, emerging artists in Toronto will open it up and warm the crowd.”

It will be a talent contest of sorts where the artists chosen – Twisted Ankles (dance group), Symmetry (hip hop/spoken word), Oriana Cheung (R and B singer), Everlyn (acoustic rock group), Liar and a Thief (alternative/grunge band), and Jordan Daniel (rock/blues/acoustic singer) - will compete for a cash prizes.

"We like to keep it diverse and keep it unique and fresh," Basu said.

Tickets to Under the Mistletoe on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at Courthouse, 57 Adelaide St. E, are $20 in advance or $25 at the door, with proceeds going to the Orion Foundation.