ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997                 TAG: 9704250033
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: HALE SHEIKERZ THE ROANOKE TIMES 

SINGING AND DANCING ENDING THE YEAR WITH A SPLASH

RU student showcasing her singing talent in extravaganza.

Anne Kempton is ending the school year with a bang. Literally.

The fifth-year Radford student will present a full-scale entertainment production Wednesday at Preston Hall. The event is such an extravaganza that her parents, Jack and Denise Kempton, have chartered a bus to bring her family and friends from Northern Virginia to Radford. The bus is already full with more than 40 people riding down for an evening of entertainment.

Kempton calls the evening "The Beginning." Even though she is not graduating, she sees it as the start of the next phase of her life, a life devoted to a career in entertainment.

"This isn't like the traditional student recital, it's more of a show because there's so many different venues of music," she said.

There will be variety, and it will be a night to remember. The evening will include dancing, singing and costume changes for the cast.

The production will include musical acts by the Radford University Dance Company, jazz ensemble, choral singers and the Miles High Jazz Band. There will be songs from "West Side Story," "The Whiz" and "Rent." It will include about 50 dancers, singers and musicians.

The students, most of whom are studying dance or music, have been practicing since February. Eighteen songs will be performed during the two-act production.

Kempton will perform several solos, including pop songs from Celine Dion and such classics as "Age of Aquarius," made popular in the late '60s by the Fifth Dimension. She also will be the show's emcee.

She describes her role as someone "who will have a relationship with the audience and entertain them" - kind of like Barbra Streisand, she adds. "I want it to be a show - and show them my talent."

Kempton got the idea for such a production last fall. She said since the university does not have a vocal jazz program, and she wanted to put together a concert as an independent study. She talked with Allen Wojtera, an assistant professor in the music department, who agreed with the idea. After talking with her family and friends, she came up with Wednesday's performance.

Kempton has been singing at school plays and community events when she was 3. After graduating from high school, she studied at George Mason University, sang with the university jazz band and performed on a dinner-cruise ship, the Spirit of Washington.

She entered Radford in 1994. She was drawn to the area because several of her friends were here and because the program was small. Since she started at Radford, Kempton says her voice has improved 100 percent.

While her major is music education and her concentration is voice, Kempton wants a career in performance after she graduates in 1998. This should not be a problem for Kempton, who received a Sammy Davis Jr. Scholarship from her high school and the award for Most Outstanding Student Vocalist in the Nation for 1994-95 from DownBeat Magazine, a national jazz magazine.

LENGTH: Medium:   63 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:     Anne Kempton will presnet a full-scale entertainment 
          production Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Radford University's Preston 
          Auditorium. Admission is free.