An elite group of Southern California high school students were honored at the Music Center Spotlight Awards on April 14. Held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Music Center of Los Angeles County awarded 12 performing artists and 14 visual artists with cash scholarships with top awards of $6,000 going to the winner and $3,000 going to the runner-up.
Hosted by Tony and Emmy-Award winning actor John Lithgow, this sold-out event was followed up by a gala dinner, which raised funds to support the nationally acclaimed arts education and recognition program. With almost 2,0000 students participating in the Spotlight program, over $100,000 was given out in award prizes to finalists, semi-finalists and honorable mentions.
The top spot in the non-classical dance category was given to 11th grader Michael Tyus from Temple City High School. Tyus was followed by Paula vanOppen, an 11th grader from Brea Olinda High School who was given the runner-up award. In the ballet category, 11th grader Kristopher Nobles won from Hamilton Senior High School and Alexandria Mitchell an 11th grader from Laurel Springs Academy received the runner-up award.
Over in the classical instruments category, 9th grade violinist Jennifer Liu from Oak Park High School received top honors in the category with 10th grade flutist Mark Teplitsky nabbing the runner-up award from Torrey Pines High School. Jonathan Pinson, a 12th grade drummer from Hamilton High School won the jazz instrumental category with 12th grade flutist Sarah Johnson receiving the runner-up position from Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
The winner in the non-classical voice category was 9th grader Teira Church from Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, while 11th grader Olivia Hernandez from Fullerton Union High School was runner-up. In the classical voice category, Julia Metzler, a 12th grader from Glendale was the winner and Anna Schubert, a 12th grader at Fullerton Union High School was runner-up.
In the two-dimensional art category Tiana Tucker of Los Angeles County High School for the Arts received first place and Aanchal Anand of South Pasadena High School received second place. In the photography category Ian Cervantes of John Burroughs High School in Burbank received first place and Eunice Lau of Beckman High School in Irvine received second place.
The evening’s celebrity judges were Peggy Hickey, Julie McDonald and Keith Young for the Non-Classical Dance category; Dr. JB Dyas, Kevin Eubanks and Dr. Ronald C. McCurdy for the Jazz Instrumental Category; Glenn Edgerton, Jeffrey Edwards, and Christopher Stowell for the Ballet Category; Sam Harris, DeLee Lively and Charlayne Woodard for the Non-Classical Voice category; Susan Graham, Suzanna Guzmán and Cynthia Munzer for the Classical Voice Category; Sean Newhouse, Delores Stevens and Rachael Worby for the Classical Instrumental Category.
Established in 1988, The Music Center Spotlight Awards program is one of the nation’s most acclaimed performing and visual arts educational programs for teens. The program has launched numerous professional careers-fourteen finalists are Presidential Scholars and many have joined or performed with professional companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Metropolitan Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
Fredric M. Roberts is founding chairman of the Music Center Spotlight Awards; Dennis Beck is chairman and Walter Grauman creator/executive producer. The program is a project of the Fraternity of Friends.
Bank of America is the Principal Sponsor of the Music Center Spotlight Awards. The program is also supported by Helen and Peter Bing, HUB International/Kagan-Kozberg, Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation, Walter Lantz Foundation, California Community Foundation, Lee Graff Foundation, Dorothy B. Chandler Program Fund, Entravision Communications Corporation, American Honda Motor Co., Inc, Eloise C. Goodhew Barnett, The Carsey Family Foundation, James B. Pendleton Foundation, The Claire and Theodore Morse Foundation, The Lucille Ellis Simon Foundation, Gladys Turk Foundation, Harmon Pro Group/JBL Professional, E! Entertainment, and Occidental Petroleum.
For more information about the Music Center Spotlight Awards program, call 213-972-3300 or visit musiccenter.org.
All photos taken by Howard Pasamanick
