By Daily Press staff
Local students have been chosen as semi-finalists for a top music award. The Music Center of Los Angeles County announced the 90 talented high school student performers chosen as semi-finalists for the 18th annual Music Center Spotlight Awards. Students were selected from among more than 985 Southern California applicants who auditioned in ballet, non-classical dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental and jazz instrumental music.
The audition process for the Music Center Spotlight Awards includes participation by students from public and private schools throughout all of Southern California. Each student performs for a panel of expert judges and receives detailed evaluations on their initial auditions, intended to improve their performing and auditioning technique.
Selection as a Music Center Spotlight Awards is highly competitive, officials said. Each semi-finalist is given an opportunity to work with highly regarded professional artists who offer in-depth insight on performance technique, training and professional life. The 15 semi-finalists in each category audition once again to become one of the two finalists that will perform at the Music Center.
The 12 performing arts finalists are announced in March and are paired with a mentor from the Music Center’s fraternity of friends, comprised of prominent Los Angeles businesspeople and entertainment industry professionals. The mentors provide guidance and support to the students and their families in preparation for the final competition, the 18th annual Music Center Spotlight Awards, to be held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on April 29. Grand prize finalists — first place and runner-up — will receive $6,000 and $3,000 respectively.
Santa Monica area 2006 Spotlight Award performing arts nominees include: ■Dasha Jensen, 16, Malibu — Classical voice, soprano. Malibu High School. ■ Daisy Long, 15, Santa Monica — Ballet, Santa Monica High School independent study. ■ Han Bin Yoon, 17, Santa Monica classical instrumental, cello. Crossroad School of Arts and Sciences.
The Music Center Spotlight Awards program was established in 1988 and is one of the nation’s acclaimed performing and visual arts educational programs for teens, officials said. The program has launched numerous professional careers — 13 finalists are presidential scholars and many have joined professional companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
For more information about the Music Center Spotlight Awards program, call (213) 972-3371.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 23, 2006. Read the original PDF.