13th Annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County Held 4/24

The Howard County Arts Council, in its 29th year of service to the public of Howard County, presents the 13th Annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County on Saturday, April 24, 2010 at the Jim Rouse Theatre at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia. Richard Story, Chief Executive Officer of the Howard County Economic Development Authority will emcee the event.

The Celebration is a multi-faceted signature event, showcasing and promoting the arts and raising funds in support of the arts, artists and arts organizations in Howard County. Nine finalists will compete for a cash prize of $5,000 in the 2010 Rising Star Emerging Performing Artist Award Competition, a highlight of the gala event. In January, performing artists aged 18 to 35 years, currently or recently living, working, performing regularly, or receiving training in Howard County, auditioned before a panel of professionals in their discipline. Review criteria included artistic merit, demonstrated experience in the arts, and commitment to a career in the arts.

An audience of artists, arts patrons, business and political representatives and community members will select by popular vote, one winner to receive the $5,000 award. The winner will receive the award on stage that night!

The ten finalists performing at the Celebration are: Nathan Carlisle (Classical Voice), Joanna Dabrowska (Percussion), Mark Edwards (Classical Guitar), Matthew Hill (Musical Theatre), Erin Holmes (Classical Voice), Paul Jenkins (Violin), Caleb Jones (Cello), Kevin McAllister (Musical Theatre), Rolando Sanz (Classical Voice), and Stephanie Yezek (Modern Dance)

Texas native Nathan Carlisle has performed across the country in leading operatic tenor roles, including Tamino in The Magic Flute, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Nemorino in The Elixir of Love, Danillo in The Merry Widow, Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, and Spalanzani and Frantz in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, appearing with such companies as Annapolis Opera, Columbia Pro Cantare, Bowie MD Music Festival, Hudson Opera Theater, VPR Brooklyn Opera, The Yard Opera on Martha's Vineyard, and Denton Lyric Opera, among others. During his five years with the United States Air Force Singing Sergeants in Washington, Nathan resided in Laurel, MD while he performed for over 20 White House Dinners, the funerals of Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, and as a featured soloist for Veteran's Day 2007 at Arlington National Cemetery. Also an avid concert soloist, he was featured in Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 "Lobgesang" with the American University Symphony Orchestra, Carmina Buran with the Columbia Pro Cantare and in Mozart's C Minor Mass at St. John's Church in Washington, D.C. Nathan currently resides in Manhattan, where he is pursuing a graduate degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music, in addition to being a member of the celebrated Metropolitan Opera Chorus.

Joanna Dabrowska earned her B.M. in Percussion Performance from the Peabody Conservatory. She provides instruction to approximately 40 students, a majority from Howard County, MD. As founder and music director of the Mercury Rising Percussion Ensemble, she provides a vehicle for her students to develop success through musicianship. Joanna's performance ensembles include the Washington Metropolitan Philaharmonic, McLean Orchestra, Capital City Symphony, and Brass of the Potomac. She commissioned and premiered James Kazik's Percussion Concerto this past spring. This award will enable Joanna to purchase a five-octave marimba, which will greatly increase her repertoire possibilities and teaching opportunities.

Mark Edwards is a guitar instructor at Woodbridge Music Shop in Clarksville, MD, as well as Artist Representation International in Columbia, MD. At Woodbridge, he teaches some of the brightest young students in the area, showing them that with practice they can make music just as great as the music on their iPods. With Artist Representation, He performs at retirement communities around the area and give those audiences a chance to hear my music who would otherwise not be able to. He would love to continue with these teaching and performing ventures with the help of this award.
Matthew Hill has lived in Howard County his entire life. Currently, Hill is pursuing his studies of vocal performance at the University of Maryland College Park. If he won this competition, he says he would put the money towards a "study abroad" music program in Europe for the summer to further my education. Hill has always dreamed of performing, and would love to sing on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera House, and beyond. After performing for some time, settling down to become a college professor of music would put the icing on the cake.

Up-and-coming soprano and Ellicott City native Erin Holmes began singing at age four with Howard County Summer Theatre and later at Slayton House Conservatory. Erin lives in Boston, MA where she received her M.M. in Voice at the New England Conservatory of Music. She has appeared with Opera Boston, Opera Providence, New England Light Opera, Longwood Opera and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In July 2008, Erin made her European debut performing the role of "L'Aurora" in Cavalli's L'Egisto, in Arezzo, Italy. This scholarship will help to further her operatic career by assisting with lesson costs, coachings, loans, and travel fees.

Paul Jenkins, a violinist, composer, and teacher of Howard County, MD, began studying the violin at age three with violin virtuoso Ronald Mutchnik. Paul has composed numerous works for violin, guitar, and orchestra. He has performed with various orchestras over the last 15 years, in venues that include Carnegie Hall. He received the Maryland Distinguished Scholar Award in 2004 and is now a senior at UMBC where he was the winner of the 2009 Concerto Competition. The Rising Star Award will provide financial assistance in Paul's post-graduate studies as well as provide a unique opportunity to showcase his own music.

Hailed "Outstanding" by the Palm Beach Post, cellist Caleb Jones is rapidly establishing himself as one of classical music's most versatile young artists. He has performed along many great actors at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC and most recently with actress Ruby Dee Davis in Atlanta, GA. He hopes to continue performing and eventually establish his own concert series. He hopes to use the Rising Star award to help pay for recording studio sessions. Jones attended Long Reach High School and is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of Music.
Kevin McAllister is a native of Detroit, MI, who came to Maryland by way of his undergraduate studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. It was not soon after he received his Bachelor of Arts (Voice) that he found love for the world of Musical Theatre. Over the last three years he has worked with Toby's Dinner Theatre and Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts as both performer and director. It is his hope that should he win this competition he will be able to afford several trips to New York in hopes of pursuing a career on Broadway.

Cuban-American tenor Rolando Sanz is quickly gaining recognition for his "sensitive" and "luminous" portrayals of such operatic roles as Rodolfo, Tamino, Nemorino, Alfredo, Pinkerton and Le Prince Charmant. A Maryland native, Rolando has callEd Howard County home for the past five years as he embarks upon his career as an opera singer. His engagements have led him all over the world, including much of the USA as well as Europe and South America. This award would greatly assist in defraying the costs of preparing upcoming roles as well as necessary travel for auditions. Rolando is a graduate of the Yale University School of Music, and has sung leading roles with such companies as Palm Beach Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Idaho and the Aspen Music Festival.
Stephanie Yezek: For the past six years, Yezek has danced with various companies throughout Baltimore and Washington and begun to create her own work by co-founding BARE, a choreographic collaboration.

The Howard County Arts Council established the Rising Star Awards in 2003 to provide emerging performing artists with roots in Howard County, opportunities and assistance in the development and practice of their art. The goals of the Rising Star Awards are to encourage professional development in the performing arts in all disciplines, recognize individual achievement in the performing arts, support performing artists with strong ties to Howard County, Maryland, and provide a venue for artists through a performance of award finalists.

Tickets to the 13th Annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County are available online at www.hocoarts.org or by phone to the Howard County Arts Council, 410-313-2787.