CONTRIBUTED

The Young Musicians Festival >at the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities was held March 19 and 20. > Introduced >by Amelia Rose Ehrhardt Moz in the early 1980s, the festival provides performing and adjudicating opportunities for young people.

Sue Aceves was this year's festival chair. Shelly Johnson, Sondra Nelson and Elaine Sills served on the committee. The judge this year was John Shannon, music director and organist at The Village Chapel in Pinehurst. He was conductor of the Lee County Community Chorus for 10 years and former conductor of the Moore County Choral Society.

Shannon received his bachelor's degree in music from the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., and earned his master's degrees in conducting and in organ performance from Penn State. He was awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award from Penn State in March 2001.

Shannon has performed choral works with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony, Leopold Stokowski and the American Symphony, and Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has worked with great choral directors, including Sir David Willcocks, Robert Shaw and John Rutter.

As a pianist, harpsichordist and organ recitalist, he has performed in many of the Northeastern states, as well as in Belgium, England and Germany. As a vocalist, he was selected to sing with the Norman Luboff Choir and to perform as one of 12 singers in a consort with Alfred Deller, England's world-renowned counter-tenor.

The following finalists were selected by the judge to perform in a concert on the day following auditions (teachers are listed in parentheses):

Braxton Furstein, guitar (Danny Infantino); Nick Kuzma, piano (Ruth Sinclair); Ethan Sevigny, piano (Ruth Sinclair); Charlotte Cox, piano (John Ruggero); Hunter Downing, guitar (Danny Infantino); Conner Cheek, voice (Valerie Stancik); Jessica Free, violin (Becky Anliker); Kristen Daniel, piano (Sue Aceves); Joeli Banks, piano (Sue Aceves); Caroline Freeman, piano (Sue Aceves); Kathleen Mills, piano (Ruth Sinclair); and Chase Johnson, cello (Nancy Green).

This year's participating teachers and their students were:

Sue Aceves, piano: Kristen Daniel, Caroline Freeman, Emily Melvin, Joeli Banks; Becky Anliker, violin: Joanna Lynn, Jessica Free; Emily Braun, violin and cello: Hannah Carter (cello), Leah Crawford (violin), Brianna Lefler (violin); Catherine Charlton, voice: Kamaira Philips; Karen Collins, violin: Charlotte Cox; Sherri Free, piano: Brianna Lefler; Nancy Green, cello: Chase Johnson; Danny Infantino, guitar: Timothy Banks, Hunter Downing and Braxton Furstein; Dr. Doris Powers, violin: Kendall Bryant; John Ruggero, piano: Charlotte Cox; Ruth Sinclair, piano: Arren Sevigny, Ethan Sevigny, Anna Kuzma, Nick Kuzma, Kathleen Mills, Allison Van Roosen; Valerie Stancik, piano and voice: Clara Poppele (piano), Sophie Poppele (piano), >Margaux Winter (piano), Conner Cheek (voice) and Wyatt Parson (piano).

Originally open to eligible students in Moore County, the festival has expanded to include the counties of Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Richmond and Scotland.

"The festival is grateful for the support of the community, >The Pilot, and especially the music teachers who have devoted their lives to teaching music to young people," says Sue Aceves. "As the festival continues to move forward, plans are being made for a scholarship, an added division for college students, and ways to feature festival finalists throughout the year."