BWW Special Coverage: 9th Annual CCC's VOICE OF THE CITY Competition - Winners Announced!

The 9th Annual Voice of the City Vocal Competition presented by the Columbus Children's Choir was held last night, March 21, at the Shedd Theatre in Columbus, Ohio. Inaugural winner, David Bahgat, emceed the event with 28 finalists (ages 9-18) who sang in front of a panel of expert judges, including New York City talent agent, Nancy Carson. Other Judges included Broadway actress and drama specialist at The Columbus Academy, Larissa Thurston Bateman; performer and professional stage mom, Katie Grove, operatic tenor and life trustee for Opera Columbus, Willie Grove; and performer and professional vocalist in jazz and opera, Tammy Perakis Wallace.

At intermission, we were treated to a performance by inaugural winner and host, David Bahgat, along with the Columbus Children's Choir's Pinta Choir directed by Molly Rule, and last year's overall winner, Olivia Weiss.

Prior to the finals, hundreds of contestants auditioned before a panel of local judges and received feedback in preliminary auditions which were held in January. Singers with the highest preliminary scores become finalists for the live show on March 21, 2015. Winners at the finals received prizes in their age group, as well as one grand prize of $1,000 and the opportunity to work with NYC talent agent, Nancy Carson.

And the 2015 Voice of the City Finalists and Winners Were:

Age 9 to 11
William D. Gorgas, Age 9
Georgia Curtis, Age 10
Collin Grubbs, Age 10
Grace Schaffer, Age 10
Hope Adair, Age 11
Faith Caplinger, Age 11
Kayla Joleen Levesque, Age 11
Alexa Mason, Age 11
Cade Thomas Miller, Age 11
Julianna Parlin, Age 11 **WINNER**

Age 12 to 14
Sara Latzke, Age 12
Ishika Majumder, Age 12
Corinne N. Gorgas, Age 12
Katelyn Mei Guo Ai Baughman, Age 13
Isabella Glaser, Age 13
Grace Johnson, Age 13
Hannah Stump, Age 13
Claire Ferguson, Age 14
Kira Keydt, Age 14
Ally Harris, Age 14
Kassi Popcevski, Age 14 **WINNER**

Age 15 to 18
Savannah Amerson, Age 15
Charley Phoenix Nuesse, Age 15
Tina Hohman, Age 16
Conner Poulin, Age 17
Margaret Hall, Age 17 **WINNER**
Andrew Simmons, Age 17
Jackie Burns, Age 18

Overall Winner of $1,000 Prize
Cade Thomas Miller, Age 11 **WINNER**

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners! For more information about Columbus Children's Choir or Voice of the City, visit: http://columbuschildrenschoir.org/

Photo Credit: Christina Mancuso