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Students to be Honored at Event March 1 at SteelStacks
BETHLEHEM, PA– The Lehigh Valley Music Awards (LVMA) will honor four local students who stand out for their exemplary performances, both in school and onstage, at this year’s awards ceremony. Emmaus High School’s Rhys Williams, Bangor Area High School’s Steffani Smith and Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts’ Allison Bressette and Jadyn Lynah have been named the recipients of this year’s Youth Education Scholarship Awards, to be awarded during the LVMAs presented by C.F. Martin & Co. and Tri Outdoor Inc., March 1, 4 p.m., in the ArtsQuest Center’s Musikfest Café. Tickets for the awards are $20 and on sale now at www.steelstacks.org and 610-332-3378.
Musikfest alumnus and Emmaus High School senior Rhys Williams is a multi-faceted musician who plans to pursue both songwriting and vocal performance in college. He is heavily intwined in the arts at his school, singing in Choral, Select Choir and Fermata Nowhere, an all-male a cappella ensemble, as well as being the assistant music director and pianist for the spring musical. Williams has sung with several groups outside of school including the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) District, Region and State Chorus and he holds the title of Choral Scholar with the Bethlehem Bach Choir. He plays cello in the Emmaus Orchestra, holding second seat in the chamber orchestra, Sinfonia and cello ensemble, and he has previously performed with the Young People’s Philharmonic. His original songs were also featured at Touchstone Theatre’s “Festival UnBound” this fall.
Multi-instrumentalist Steffani Smith plays both trumpet and piano. She performs in numerous Bangor Area High School ensembles including concert band, symphonic band, jazz band, marching band, pep band and pit orchestra, just to name a few. She also participates in several extracurricular ensembles including the COTA Cats in the COTA Jazz Festival, the Allentown Band side-by-side concert, County Band, the Moravian College Alfa Track program and the HMI jazz combo program at Penn State. Smith is also involved with the PMEA District Band, District Jazz and Region Band. She wants to study music education in college, as well as join the Army before pursuing her career post-graduate.
Allison Bressette is a senior at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts where she majors in guitar, focusing on classical playing and music theory. She is also a former student of the School of Rock in Easton where she is still a member of their house band, the Bank Street Band, which performs all over the Lehigh Valley. Bressette has been in 10 School of Rock shows performing songs by legendary artists including Elton John, Chicago, the Eagles, Pink Floyd and more. While she plays a variety of instruments, her primary focus is on guitar and vocals. She plans to continue her musical education at Moravian College by minoring in guitar alongside her major studies in Health Sciences.
While Jadyn Lynah will soon be ending her studies at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, her career in musical theater is just beginning. She has been singing and acting since she was 5 years old and won an “America’s Got Talent” competition in Scranton when she was just 11. Her dream is to perform in musicals professionally. She has already appeared in several musicals, with her favorite roles being Tracy in “Hairspray” and Rafiki in “The Lion King.”
Started in 1999 by the Greater Lehigh Valley Music Association (GLVMA), the Lehigh Valley Music Awards are designed to honor and celebrate the musicians and music related businesses of the Greater Lehigh Valley. The LVMAs, now in their 21st year, are a partnership between the Greater Lehigh Valley Music Association and ArtsQuest. For more information on the LVMAs, visit www.lehighvalleymusicawards.org.
Information provided to TVL for Gloria Domina (GLVMA) by:
Mark Demko, ArtsQuest
http://www.artsquest.org/
