Rotary Magazine 2013 - TownNews.com

By Mary-Justine Lanyon
STUDENT
MUSICIANS SHINE
AT COMPETITION
The eight judges had their work cut out
for them as 23 students competed in the
annual Rotary music competition last year.
This 2012 event, held in the Performing
Arts Center at Rim High School, was judged
by Dr. Hugh Bialecki, Dr. Kathy O’Fallon,
John Leverett, Beth Miller, Rick Miller, Karen
Prisant-Ellis, Barbara Samuels and Karen
Tomlinson.
The eight instrumentalists performed on
tenor saxophone, flute, viola, guitar, violin
and cello. Their pieces ranged from
“Autumn Leaves,” a French song with music
by Joseph Kosma, to classical pieces by
Bach and Mozart.
First place was awarded to cellist Presley
Schlarb, who played Mark Summers’ Julio-
O. Flutist Caitlin Brady, playing Paul Genin’s
“Carnaval de Venise,” won second place.
And cellist Andrew Martin, playing
“Tarantella, Op. 23” by W.H. Squire, took
third place in the instrumentalist category.
Other instrumental competitors were Nick
Maltas (tenor saxophone), Brittany Wright
(flute), Charlotte Papp (viola), Gary Guth (guitar)
and Margaret Macall Potter (violin).
Twelve vocalists followed, singing off-
Broadway, Broadway and popular tunes.
Jeannine Robertson, singing “Your
Daddy’s Son” from Ragtime, was awarded
first place. Second place went to Rosie
McDonald for her performance of “Not for
the Life of Me” from Thoroughly Modern
PHOTO BY JAYSON BURKE/Staff
Presley Schlarb was the first-place instrumentalist. Note how he is
playing some of his music without a bow.
Lake Arrowhead Rotary Club, 2013 • 9
Millie. And third place went to Emily Jones, who sang “I’m Not Afraid of
Anything” from Songs for a New World.
The other nine vocalist competitors were Ananda Foerch, Summer
Foerch, Rebecca Landrum, Tara Rothwill, Lexi Ulmer, Reanne Lynn Valdez,
Nina Gaw, Jonathan Williams and Nick Orlando.
The final three performers of the evening were the pianists. Jason
Burnell, who had captured first place last year, was once again awarded
first. He performed the third movement of Beethoven’s “Pathetique”
sonata. Second-place winner Karen Bogart played Franz Shubert’s
“Impromptu No. 2 in A flat major.” And Blake Scullin, who won third place,
played Mozart’s “Turkish March.”
The first-place winners in each category were awarded $100; second
place, $75; and third place, $50.
This year’s mountain competition was
the largest Rudy Westervelt, past president
of the Mountain Sunrise Rotary Club, can
remember. “We also had the largest crowd
in attendance,” he said, adding “the venue
was perfect.”
Westervelt explained to the audience
all that Rotary does for the young people on
the mountain, from sponsoring RYLA (Rotary
Youth Leadership Awards), a camp for high
school juniors, and PRYDE (Personal Rotary
Youth Development), a camp for 7thgraders;
literacy programs; student
exchange programs; the Four-Way Test
speech contest; Interact clubs at Rim High
and MPH Intermediate School; and scholarships
to graduating seniors.
As the audience arrived at the PAC,
they were entertained by a strings chamber
ensemble made up of Cassie Donohue,
Ginny Winters and Sydney Aaron on violin
and Gabriella Dionnes on cello. The quartet
also played during the two intermissions.
In addition to thanking the judges,
Westervelt expressed special thanks for
Chuck and Megan Marra, of the Lake
Arrowhead Repertory Theatre Company,
and Rim Drama for handling the sound,
backup music and microphones on stage.
Jeannine Robertson, Rosie McDonald
and Jason Burnell represented the mountain
Rotary clubs at the District 5330 competitions.
For information on 2013 music competition,
log on to www.lakearrowhead
rotary.net.