THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506220246
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 189 lines
``IT WAS A REAL eye-opener to see all this young talent here in Chesapeake,'' said Russell Stanger, former musical director of the Virginia Symphony and a judge of this year's competition for education grants from the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission.
``I've heard that next to Virginia Beach, the city that sends more youngsters to the Governor's Magnet School for the arts is Chesapeake. That's something to be proud of,'' said L. Randy Harrison, coordinator of the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission. ``This year we awarded grant money to a very talented group of kids. And the seven who achieved perfect scores really impressed the judges.''
The sponsoring Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission recently awarded these grants to more than 30 young people to pursue and continue their fine arts studies.
``I believe we're the only city in the area who does this for its residents,'' Harrison said.
Grant awards ranged from the top $275 to $200, the funds were given to the commission by the Chesapeake City Council, overseen by City Councilman W. Joe Newman, liaison to the Fine Arts Commission.
``Joe Newman has worked hard with the commission. He's there at every meeting, is very active and looks out for our concerns,'' Harrison said. ``He's been a big part of the Fine Arts Commission's success and the success of the education grant awards.''
According to Harrison, 127 youngsters applied for the grants, and the four-person panel awarded money to 34.
The auditions featured candidates in the visual, dramatic and musical arts.
A group of seven Chesapeake youngsters achieved perfect scores from the judges, who were all impressed with the level of expertise, prowess and ability shown by the ``perfect seven'' and the rest of the grant recipients, Harrison said.
``Although we had seven who achieved perfect scores, no one left without feeling like a winner,'' Harrison said. ``All of these youngsters were very talented. And many times the difference between one youngster receiving top grant and another receiving the next level was a matter of a few percentage points. The judges were very thorough with the youngsters and they all told me they were overwhelmed by all the talent they saw.''
This year's judges were:
Maestro Russell Stanger, former conductor and musical director of the Virginia Symphony, well-known and very popular symphony conductor in Japan and Mexico, associated with the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and in charge of instrumental studies at the New York State Summer School of Art.
Joe Sasso, associate producer for the Actor's Theatre in Virginia Beach.
Trish Pfeifer, former curator of the Portsmouth Children's Museum and well-known area artist and art teacher.
Michael Barriskill, area dance performance artist and member of the dance/voice faculty of the Governor's Magnet School for the Arts.
``I work with a lot of young people in Saratoga and I get the cream of talent from New York state and the youngsters here in Chesapeake match up well with them,'' Stanger said. ``They were all very, very impressive.''
``This year's group of kids are some of the most talented I've ever seen,'' Harrison added. ``I've taught students in New York and New Jersey and I see the same level of talent and higher right here in Chesapeake.''
This year's grant candidate selection process had been streamlined and modified to award more money to very deserving and talented youngsters, Harrison said. In fact, the entire audition/selection procedure was praised by the judges.
``I was very impressed with the whole process,'' Stanger said about the candidate selection process which included a written application and auditions. ``Everything from top to bottom was handled in a top-notch way.''
First of all, Harrison said she and Chesapeake's Fine Arts commissioners got together months earlier and brainstormed to improve the selection process.
``We eliminated the very young kids from the procedure,'' Harrison said. ``Now we offer these education grants to those in the seventh grade through the first year of college. It just wasn't fair to have one youngster just beginning with his or her talent competing against one that's had a lot of experience and study. By eliminating the younger beginners we decided to go for high quality and excellence. Also by doing this we were able to award more money to a smaller group of deserving youngsters.''
Harrison said the commission eliminated the audition workshop.
``By the time they're in the seventh grade they should be aware of the stage and how to perform for auditions,'' she said.
The auditions took place in one day at the Oscar F. Smith High School auditorium and the judges knew the candidates only by number and their field of expertise, nothing more. Each discipline was put in a separate category.
Each candidate was judged on a five point system, with five as the highest rating. Youngsters received $50 for each point awarded by the judges.
The ``perfect seven'' were awarded $275 each, though, because they received ratings beyond perfect scores, the judges were that impressed.
``The top seven youngsters got perfect 5.0 scores and then some,'' Harrison explained. ``They got five plus and sometimes five plus-plus. It went off the scale.''
``Before I got here I thought Chesapeake was a lot of fields,'' Stanger said. ``Boy! do you have some dynamic organizations here: Your school FM radio station is wonderful, you have a good school string program and the arts commission is well organized and encourages creativity. But what impressed me the most was the community and parental support I saw. That portends a great future for Chesapeake and our area.''
``All this talent shows we have good quality youngsters who have excellent parental support and a great school system,'' Harrison said. ``We do a great job in our schools, now if we only had a place to effectively showcase all this talent. In looking in at the youngsters who were auditioning, I saw them as this city's future. And I think the future looks bright. We have a richness of talent.'' MEMO: Andrew Sobel, the 16-year-old son of Elizabeth Sobel of Western
Branch, needed a grand piano to help hone his considerable skills at the
keyboard.
The Sobel residence did have a small upright spinet piano for
Andrew's practices, but not an instrument that matched his talents.
Andrew solved his problem by walking into the Piano and Organ
Showcase musical keyboard store in Western Branch's Chesapeake Square
Mall and starting to play.
As the Western Branch High student tickled the ivories on the store's
Yamaha G-2 medium-sized grand piano, he caught the attention of the
store's sales staff, most skilled keyboardists in their own right. Soon,
Andrew found the grand piano he needed and was welcome to practice on it
anytime the store wasn't using it for sales promotions, lessons or other
customer-related business.
``We came up to him and asked him how long he'd been playing, what
kind of piano he has at home and other questions like that,'' said
assistant manager Allen Meads. ``When he told us what he had at home we
told him he was welcome to come in here anytime and play.''
Meads said Andrew has been coming in the store on and off for about a
year.
``When school was in he'd come in here during the evening, usually
two to three times a week,'' Meads said. ``Usually he played classical
pieces and some jazz. I think he was practicing for upcoming recitals,
auditions and competitions.''
Meads said regular store customers would come in just to watch and
listen as Andrew practiced.
``Some people were used to seeing him play,'' Meads said. ``We
consider him an asset. To see a young person like him come in and play
gives us all a lot of inspiration. He's superb, excellent.''
Name: Andrew Sobel
Age: 16
Parent: Elizabeth L. Sobel
School: Western Branch High School and Governor's Magnet School for
the Arts
Talent: Piano
Name: Chris Conley
Age: 13
Parents: Olivia and Robert Conley
School: Great Bridge Middle School South
Talent: Watercolorist
Name: Zachary Casebolt
Age: 14
Parents: Sally Casebolt
School: Indian River Middle School
Talent: Violin
Name: Christie Beck
Age: 15
Parents: Cheryl and Robert Beck
School: Great Bridge Middle School South
Talent: Dance-ballet
Name: William Belongia
Age: 16
Parents: Susan and Gordon Belongia
School: Deep Creek High School
Talent: Music composition
Name: Nakeya Hudson
Age: 12
Parents: Helen and Kelvin Hudson
School: Indian River Middle School
Talent: Dance-lyrical
Name: Andrew Wong
Age: 17
Parents: Mary and Richard Wong
School: Norfolk Academy
Talent: Piano
OTHER SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
See microfilm
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo of each winner on cover
Photo of each winner
by CNB