ROCKPORT — Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School plans to hold the Young Stars of Maine prizewinners concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 6, at the Rockport Opera House, 6 Central St.
The Young Stars of Maine program highlights excellence and commitment in emerging musicians from Maine in eight different categories, representing a diverse array of focus and genre.
Judges Sarah Tuttle, Nicole Rabata, George Lopez and Katherine Liccardo awarded seven $1,000 prizes to soloists and one chamber music prize to a string quartet. The concert, sponsored by The First National Bank and First National Wealth Management, is free and open to the public; mask wearing is requested.
Owen Kennedy Contributed photo
Owen Kennedy, a 16-year-old fiddler from Winthrop, is the winner of the Glenn Jenks Prize for a Future in Music. His love of traditional music and enthusiasm for performing has charmed audiences from San Diego to the Shetland Islands and throughout New England. He has been playing the violin for 12 years, beginning with Pineland Suzuki School at age 4. He has played with several classical ensembles, including Mozart Mentors Orchestra and the Mid-Maine Youth Orchestra.
Kennedy is a student of U.S National Scottish Fiddle Champion Seán Heely and Maine Master Fiddler Ellen Gawler. Whether capturing the jazzy bounce of a Maritime reel, mimicking the bagpipes in a Scottish march, or driving a New England contradance tune, his powerful playing, clean articulation, and artistic ornamentation delight audiences. To follow Kennedy’s musical journey, visit fiddlerokennedy.com or find him on social media and YouTube @fiddlerokennedy.
Anna Berkes Contributed photo
Also hailing from Winthrop is prizewinner Anna Berkes, cellist, a member of the JAKS Quartet that won the Anna Bereziuk and Lindley Wood Prize. She started playing the cello at age 5, and has been studying under Noreen Silver in Bangor since moving to Maine from Florida in 2016.
She has participated in the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Program for Maine students and the New England Music Camp Chamber Music Intensive. On June 6, the same day as the concert, she graduates from high school a year early to pursue her studies in music at the University of Maine in Orono.
Other Young Stars of Maine prizewinners include winner of the Jean and Harvey Picker Senior Prize Anne McKee, a violinist from Islesboro; A. H. Chatfield Jr. Piano Prizewinner Charlie Picone, pianist from Bangor; Eleanor Erdman and Diane Nixon Vocal Excellence Prizewinner Emelia Bailey, soprano from Gorham; Ezra Rachlin Prize for Excellence winner Anya Atkinson, flautist from Gorham; Elsie Bixler Junior Prizewinner Annabelle Brooks, pianist from Portland; and the Anna Bereziuk and Lindley Wood Prize winners, the JAKS Quartet: Joshua Rosenthal (Damariscotta) and Katherine O’Brien (Camden), violins; Sophia Scheck (Waterville), viola; Berkes (Winthrop), cello.
For more information on Bay Chamber Concerts and Music school, visit baychamber.org or call 207-236-2823.
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