Howard County Arts Council's 2012 Rising Star Finalist Announced

The Howard County Arts Council, in its 31st year of service to the public of Howard County, will present the 15th Annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County on Saturday, March 24, 2012 at the Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center, Howard Community College, Columbia, MD. Ken & Jaki Ulman will serve as Honorary Chairs. Richard W. Story, Senior Vice President for Marketing, JPB Enterprises, Inc. will emcee the event.

The Celebration is a multi-faceted signature event, showcasing and promoting the arts and raising funds in support of the arts, artists and arts organizations in Howard County. Nine finalists will compete for a cash prize of $5,000 in the 2012 Rising Star Emerging Performing Artist Award Competition, a highlight of the gala event. In December, performing artists aged 18 to 35 years, currently or recently living, working, performing regularly, or receiving training in Howard County, auditioned before a panel of professionals in their discipline. Review criteria included artistic merit, demonstrated experience in the arts, and commitment to a career in the arts.

An audience of artists, arts patrons, business and political representatives and community members will select the winner by popular vote, and he or she will receive the award on stage that night!

The nine finalists performing at the Celebration are: Mark Allen (Musical Theatre), Antonio Beverly (Modern Dance), Joe Duffey (Irish Step Dance), Luke Grooms (Opera), Rasa Mahmoudian (Violin), Samantha McEwen (Musical Theatre), Tim McKay (Percussion), Alexandra Rodrick (Opera), and Eddie Sanders, III (Bassoon).

Mark Allen (Musical Theatre)
Mark Allen, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, has worked on stages across the world starting at the age of twelve, when he toured in the title role with the opera Samuel. Since then, his stage career has spanned two continents, numerous theme parks, and regional theaters. Mark attended the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana, where he majored in Vocal Performance and French. He recently performed as Papa Ge and Daniel in Red Branch Theatre Company’s production of Once On This Island. Some of his other credits include Mark in Rent, Gepetto in Pinocchio, and Mr. Lawrence in Little Women.

Antonio Beverly (Modern Dance)
Antonio Beverly is a second-year dance major at Howard Community College (HCC) and a graduate of Wilde Lake High School where he performed as Munkustrap in CATS, Father Mapple in Moby Dick! The Musical, and appeared in Pippin. He has recently performed with HCC’s Arts Collective Dance Company and worked with professional resident choreographers including Renée Brozic Barger. He has also performed at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia and Baltimore and with Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts’ Teen Professional Theatre.

Joe Duffey (Irish Step Dance)
Joe Duffey has danced with Columbia-based Teelin Irish Dance Company for nearly a decade, bringing a distinctive fusion of traditional and contemporary percussive footwork to numerous regional and local venues. He has performed at the White House, Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, and Wolf Trap Performing Arts Park, as well as local festivals, schools, and nursing homes. A full-time student at George Washington University and resident of Bethesda, he teaches Irish dance and performance classes weekly at the Teelin School of Irish Dance. He hopes to push Irish dance beyond its traditional form.

Luke Grooms (Opera)
Luke Grooms has sung with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Baltimore Opera and Opera Orchestra of New York, among others. He has performed over thirty opera roles and has also made a name for himself in the musical theatre world as Dwight/God in the New York premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera, a role which he recreated at Speakeasy Stage Company in the Boston premiere, earning him an Elliott Norton Award nomination for best musical performance. Luke has performed nationally in touring companies and as a cabaret artist. He is an instructor at the Drama Learning Center in Columbia.

Rasa Mahmoudian (Violin)
Rasa Mahmoudian began violin lessons at the age of five in Iran. He performed professionally with a variety of orchestras and ensembles in Iran and worked as concertmaster for the Iran-Austria Symphony Orchestra in 2008. Since his arrival in the U.S. in 2010, he has been inspired and encouraged to pursue higher education in music. As a resident of Columbia and a music student at Howard Community College, he has participated as a violinist in Faculty Fantastique: An Exploration of Musical Timbre and played with the Columbia Orchestra. He aspires to be a university professor and create a well-recognized string quartet.

Samantha McEwen (Musical Theatre)
Samantha McEwen is a proud native of Howard County and graduate of Howard High School. She trained to be an opera singer at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and later studied in New York at the Ward Acting Studio. She has performed in numerous operas, plays, and musicals throughout the country. Locally, she has performed at Laurel Mill Playhouse, Red Branch Theatre and with the Rude Mechanicals, and was a 2011 nominee for the Broadway World Baltimore Awards.

Tim McKay (Percussion)
Tim McKay resides in Columbia and serves on the music faculty at Howard Community College where he teaches applied percussion lessons and the percussion ensemble. He maintains a strong private teaching studio of students from Howard County and beyond, and is the percussion coordinator of the Howard County High School G/T Orchestra. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, Strathmore Music Center, and Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. In 2009 he performed as an alumni soloist with the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra.

Alexandra Rodrick (Opera)
Alexandra Rodrick first learned about music while playing flute in the band at Elkridge Landing Middle School. While in high school she sang in choir at Chapelgate Christian Academy in West Friendship and went on to study music and vocal performance at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, where she was the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships. She has also performed at the Little Patuxent Opera Institute at Howard Community College, among others. She currently resides in Columbia and is pursuing a professional career in opera as a mezzo-soprano.

Eddie Sanders, III (Bassoon)
Eddie Sanders, III is a resident of Columbia and received a B.M. in Bassoon Performance from Towson University, where he studied with Gene Griswold. He has been the Principal Bassoonist with the United States Air Force Band in Washington, DC for eleven years. Past honors include winning the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition and placing as a finalist in the National Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. In addition to performing, he teaches private bassoon lessons and works with HCPSS high school band students. Eddie performs regularly in Washington, DC area orchestras and as a soloist.

Tickets to the 15th Annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County are available online at www.hocoarts.org or by phone to the Howard County Arts Council, 410-313-2787.

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