There will be a $1,000 scholarship first prize and a $500 second prize that his being sponsored by Henry Cepluch. Eligible students must be residents of Butler County or a bordering county.
Applications are available at www.hfso.org and due by June 1. Auditions and interviews will be held June 28 at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts.
In conjunction with the annual Ohio Mozart Festival, the orchestra is offering selected high school voice students a networking opportunity with the professional singers who will perform “Cosi Fan Tutte” at 4 p.m. April 22.
Stanbery has asked music teachers to nominate two students from each school to attend a rehearsal the day before the concert and then stay for lunch with the performers, who are graduate or advanced undergraduate students from the University of Kentucky, which has one of America’s outstanding voice and opera departments, Stanbery said, and yearly produces a number of Metropolitan Opera Regional Audition winners.
“Uppermost in these kids’ minds is trying to find out how to get their career going,” Stanbery said. “This luncheon is a great opportunity for young, serious singers to watch a high powered rehearsal, and then have a meaningful interaction with college-aged and graduate students who are about to launch a career in opera and musical theater.”
There will also be a piano available, in case anyone wants to show off, he said.
Other scholarships offered by the orchestra are the Jack and Audrey Confer Music Scholarship Fund, which presents ten one hundred dollar gifts yearly to pay for private music lessions and the $1,200 Edward Kezur Awards, which are presented to two outstanding members of the Great Miami Youth Symphony. The orchestra also sponsors David Belew Young Artist Solo Competition for Orchestral Instrumentalists, which not only offers a $1,000 prize but an opportunity to perform with the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra.
Call (513) 895-5151 for more information.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.
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