The Bristol Music Club sponsors a Young Artists Concert Sunday, July 22, at 3 p.m., at the Paramount Center for the Arts, Bristol, Tenn. Eight outstanding young artists are performing in this concert. There is a $5 suggested donation at the door.
Gao Yung Chen is the Division I second place winner in the 2018 Bristol Music Club Scholarship Auditions, performing on alto saxophone. A graduate of Virginia High School, he is a student of Thomas Crawford and the son of Kong Ying Wei and Xian Chen. At the Brevard Music Center he played principal saxophone in 2017. He is a 2018 winner of the John Phillip Sousa Band Award, which recognizes superior musicianship and outstanding dedication. He was first chair in the All-District Band in 2017 and 2018 and was an All-State competitor in 2017 and 2018. He plans to attend Dartmouth College.
Audra Horton, on alto saxophone, was the second place winner in Division III of the 2018 Bristol Music Club Scholarship Auditions. She studies with Thomas Crawford and is the daughter of Gary and Susan Horton. Horton has been an honor roll student in the eighth grade at Damascus Middle School. She has played in the Washington County, Virginia, All-County Band, earning first chair in 2017 and 2018. She has also played in the All-District Symphonic Band in 2017 and 2018, as first chair in 2018. For two years, she earned superior ratings in solo and ensemble auditions. Horton has participated in the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church orchestra since 2016.
Isaiah Hutton, baritone, was the honorable mention winner in Division I of the 2018 Bristol Music Club Scholarship Auditions. He is a student of Mark Davis. His parents are Dawn and Travis Hutton. Hutton is a graduate of Chilhowie High School, where he sang in the All-State Choir.
Vandana Nathan is a rising junior and cellist in the Dobyns-Bennett High School Orchestra in Kingsport, Tennessee. She started playing cello in the sixth grade as a member of the Robinson Middle School orchestra and decided to further her cello study under the tutelage of Bethany Dawson in the eighth grade. As a musician, Nathan has achieved numerous accolades, including achieving the honor of principal cello at the All-State East honor orchestra and second chair at the Tennessee All-State Orchestra two years in a row. She also played as the principal cellist in the Dobyns-Bennett Sinfonia as a freshman. She attends the Governor’s School for Arts at MTSU during the month of June on a full scholarship. In addition to cello, Nathan is actively involved in many other activities at Dobyns-Bennett including swimming, cross country running, Beta Club, Mu Alpha Theta and Science Olympiad. She is also very studious and is ranked top 10 in her class for GPA as well as being Student Council Treasurer.
Rachel Locke, soprano, who has studied with Nancy Marcum for the past five years, was the Division II second place winner of the 2018 Bristol Music Club Scholarship Auditions. Locke is a graduate of Virginia High School, where she sang in the Chorale from 2014 through 2018. She was also named to the All-State Choir in 2018. She acted in numerous plays produced at her school, at Theatre Bristol and at Barter Theatre. She was named Virginia High School’s “Best Actress†in 2016. In 2015 she was the winner of the Broadway Comes to Greeneville Youth Talent Search.
Emmaline Grubbs is 13 years old and lives in Johnson City, Tennessee, where she attends Providence Academy. She began vocal training with Sabrina Hess Voice Studio at the age of 4 and began singing opera two years later. Grubbs was honored to sing alongside Broadway performers for two years to raise funds for Niswonger Children’s Hospital and has sung the National Anthem at Bristol Motor Speedway and Thompson Boling Arena for the Lady Vols. She enjoys studying classical music and musical theater.
Katharine Ning, piano, student of Jerilyn Paolini, has completed the seventh grade at Liberty Bell Middle School. She is the daughter of Ling Wang and Shunbin Ning. She has received superior ratings in the AMTA auditions in 2015-16, the Tennessee Federation in 2015-16, in the Tennessee State Competition in 2015, and the Florida Federation in 2012-14. She was the second place winner in Division IV of the 2016 Bristol Music Club Scholarship Auditions and 2017 honorable mention winner in Division III.
Amy Shi won the honorable mention award in Division III of the 2018 Bristol Music Club Scholarship Auditions. She studies piano with Connie Wurster and is the daughter of Zhongshou Shi and Qiooxia Shen. Shi has completed the eighth grade at Vance Middle School. In 2016 she received the Don Davis Award in Band and in 2018 she entered the Optimist Oratorical Speech Contest.
For more information, contact Martha Painter at 423-239-7152.
