Having only the judges vote didn’t hurt the attendance at all; more than 200 people showed up to cheer for their favorites last night in the last semifinal of this season!

The last two perfomers to qualify for the April 9th finals were both “first timers” in the Culture Shapers event. Congratulations to Anna Price, senior at Klein Oak, who won $500 and 1st place. Second place and $300 went to Anthony Cahoon, a senior at College Park. The competition was very, very close among all contestants which was evident by a TIE for third place between Chandler Roberts, homeschooled junior, and Robin Van Zandt, junior at Elkins.

We hope to see as many of you as possible in our 3rd season of Young Voices of Houston, which begins September 17th. But before then, come and pack the house April 9th for the BEST of the BEST!

Congratulations to the winners...

Anna Price

Sunior, Klein Oak High School
Grand Prize Winner
$500

Anthony Cahoon

Senior, College Park
Second Place Winner
$300

Chandler Robert and Robin Van Zandt

Junior, Homeschooled, and junior, Elkins High School, respectively.
Third Place Winners
$200

Watch the performances on Rate My YVOH Performance!

Missed the last Young Voices of Houston performance? Not to worry! At RateMyYVOHPerformance.com, you can view all the performances from the last Young Voices of Houston competition, rate videos and even leave [constructive] feedback for the contestants! Watch the videos now!

Congratulations to ALL our finalists, in order of appearance...

ERIN HARDY is a junior at Cy Creek. This will be Erin's second attempt at the Culture Shapers Competition. She's very excited to give it one last try before the finals. She is heavily involved in the theatre department at her school. Erin has received a role in the U.I.L One Act Play which will compete at Zone later on in March. Erin is also a International Thespian qualifier (2 years running) and will be traveling to Nebraska in the summer to compete in Duet Musical. She recently received a 1 on her solo and small ensemble at the U.I.L Solo and Ensemble Choir competition in January. Her family and friends have been a huge inspiration throughout the years. She would like to thank them and her voice teacher Ms.Paul and Mr. Landrey for their help.

REBECCA BLANDA is a junior at Cy-Creek and has a deep passion for musical theatre which she has possessed since she was 6 years old. She has been in over 25 productions including Sister Mary Leo in Nunsense and Jasmine and Belle. Currently, she is playing Clara is her school's UIL play "The Magic Fire." She also loves spending time at her church at its senior high Bible study. She would like to thank her family and friends for all of their support. She will be singing "Big Time".

CAITLIN READER is a junior at Klein Oak. She placed 3rd in last month's YVOH competition. She is an honor student in the International Baccalaureate Program. She is also an active Thespian in Varsity Drama and the Top Mixed Choir. Caitlin participates in both high school and community theater, at Playhouse 1960 and Houston Family Arts Center. She has been in more than 20 theatrical productions. She would like to thank her family for their support and Culture Shapers for this wonderful opportunity to perform. She will be singing, "Gimme Gimme".

REBECCA NAOMI MOYES is a junior and attends St.Thomas’ Episcopal School, Houston. She has performed in over 30 musicals with favorite roles including Erzulie (Once On This Island), Liesl (Sound of Music), Baby Louise (Gypsy), and Eliza Doolittle (My Fair Lady). Most recently she was thrilled to be selected to audition on Broadway for the lead role of Eponine in Les Miserables, in New York for Maria in West Side Story and in Los Angeles by Disney for Jasmine in Aladdin. Rebecca also writes her own lyrics and has recorded two of her own songs. She is a true “triple threat”, having appeared as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and as the principal dancer in the productions, Awakening, Stages, and Fosse. She will be singing “Astonishing” from Little Women.

AARON BURNS is a sophomore at Cy Woods. He loves music and theatre, but feels better suited to singing. He's always been singing, but what really helped him excel was taking voice lessons from Robert Collett. He will be singing "I Can See It" from The Fantastiks.

NATHAN CHESSER is a junior at Tomball High School, Nathan is passionate about music and theatre. He is in varsity production - the THS AP drama class, and chorale - the THS AP choir class. Nathan's theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, The Crucible, Give My Regards to Broadway, Triangle Factory Fire Project, Macbeth, Spoon River Anthology, and currently in production with HFAC: High School Musical (in the role of Chad). Nathan is also lead singer of the band which recently won 1st place in the band category at the Tomball High School Talent Show. He plans to attend college and major in music and theatre. He will be singing 'Maria', from 'West Side Story'.

TAYLOR BRYAN is a senior at Cy Creek high school. She has been a member with Applause Theatre Company for 11 years and has performed Les Miserable, While Childhood Slept and many others. She is a member of the Cypress Creek Silverados Drill team. Other activities she enjoys are hanging out with friends, shopping, dancing, and Young Life. She is looking forward to this experience and excited to hear all the amazing voices! She will be singing "Hopelessly Devoted".

ANTHONY CAHOON is a senior at College Park High School. He recently made the All-State Choir and has been in region/district choirs for the past three years. Anthony also plays tennis and ping-pong and is really good at Nintendo Wii. He will be singing "Anthem" from Chess.

MICHAEL CHIAVONE is a sophomore at Klein high and another Robert Collett student. He has been doing theatre since the 5th grade and hopes to pursue it as a career. His Most recent roles include: Michael Darling in Peter Pan, And chorus members in both Crazy For You and Oklahoma! Michael will be singing a song from the musical A CLASS ACT called, Self Portrait.

MEG SCHNEIDER is a senior at Klein high, Meg was most recently seen as "Laurey" in "Oklahoma!" This past summer she was an apprentice at The Broadway Theatre Project in Tampa, FL. Meg has been a TMEA All State ranked singer for the past two years. She placed first in the 2006 NATS singing competition, classical category. A student of the Jody Haas Voice Studio, Meg plans to major in Musical Theatre. She will sing "Life with Harold".

ROBIN VAN ZANDT is a junior at Elkins High School. Her theater credits include The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), Annie (Molly) and High School Musical. At Elkins, Robin is a member of their top jazz choir, Knightbeats, who performs numerous gigs throughout Houston and produces a CD every year. Robin has been selected for the All-Region choir 5 years in a row and has received superior ratings four years in a row for her solos at the UIL Solo & Ensemble competition, allowing her to advance onto state both years of high school. Robin helps lead worship at her church in the Wired Youth Band and studies voice with Suzanne Van Velson. She will be singing "I Want To Go To Hollywood".

BRITTANY THAXTON is a 17 year old senior at Klein High School. She was in the Dec. culture shapers competition where she won third place and now can’t get enough! Brittany is very active at playhouse 1960 and just finished the musical “Oklahoma” at her school. She has been dancing for the past thirteen years and singing for the past two. Brittany tries to stay involved with her church and wants to thank her family,friends, and amazing voice teacher for all of their tremendous support.

CHANDLER ROBERTS is a homeschooled junior. She is happy to be returning to the YVOH stage. She has done musical theatre since the age of 9 in shows such as The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy) , The Sound of Music (Liesl), Aladdin at ACT@TUTS (Narrator), and Les Miserables at Main Street Theatre. Her next performance will be in Children of Eden at Masquerade Theatre. She sings weekly at Champion Forest Baptist Church, and she was part of a houston-based independent film production company, CrossWind Productions, for two years, having the opportunity to play a supporting role in the film, The Saber.

ROBERT ABASOLO is a junior at Klein Forest. This is his first year in choir, but he has been in theatre since the 5th grade. This is his first year in Varsity for both theatre and choir. He is this year's social coordinator for the drama dept at KF. His favorite role was recently playing Snoopy for his high school musical “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”. Recently he was in this years region choir as a Tenor 2. He plans on pursuing music after high school whether it’s musical theatre or professional guitarist.

ANNA PRICE is a senior at Klein Oak High School and this is her first time doing Culture Shapers. She is heavily involved in theater and choir at her school and recently performed in the musical Into the Woods as the Baker's Wife and in February sang as a member of the Texas All-State Mixed Choir. She has danced for the past 13 years and plans on majoring in either vocal performance or musical theater! She would like to thank her parents, friends, and voice teacher Ms. Sandra Peterson for guiding her through her senior year! She will be singing "The Girl In 14G".

SUZANNE GREGORY is a senior at Klein Oak. She has performed in 3 school musicals, most recently as Cinderella in Into The Woods. She was the lead at Houston Grand Opera Camp in 2006, and is in Chamber Choir and Show Choir at Klein Oak. She has trained at TUTS and with the AD Players 2 summers while playing the flute and being heavily involved in her church. She will be singing Mr. Snow from Carousel.

About the Judges...

Sandra Campbell

Soprano Sandra Campbell appears regularly with Houston Grand Opera. She has appeared in over 50 Houston Grand Opera productions including Carmen, as Frasquita, The Coronation of Poppea as Valetto, and as Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro. Ms. Campbell has toured in nine productions with Houston Grand Opera’s Opera to Go!, including Hansel and Gretel as Gretel, and The Magic Flute as Pamina. Additional opera credits include Adina in The Elixir of Love with Beaumont Civic Opera, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte. Ms. Campbell’s musical theatre credits include Anne in A Little Night Music, Luisa in The Fantastiks, Laurie in Oklahoma, and Rosamund in The Robber Bridegroom. Roles in Vanities and The Good Doctor are among her acting credits. Ms. Campbell has also appeared as a soloist in Mozart’s Solemn Vespers, the Vivaldi Gloria, and as Gabriel in The Creation with the Houston Choral Society. Ms. Campbell is currently Executive Director of Houston Grand Opera’s Opera to Go, and Executive Director of Houston Grand Opera’s Storybook Opera, a program which she created. She resides with her husband and 7 year old daughter in Kingwood, Texas.

Jesse Fernandez

Jesse Fernandez earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Southwestern University, where he graduated cum laude. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Chi, Pi Kappa Lambda, and was an active member of Delta Omicron, the national music fraternity. At Southwestern, Jesse was active as a soloist, performing with the university chorale and orchestra in great choral works such as Bach's Mass in B Minor and Handel's Judas Macabeus.

He recently toured Chicago as a part of the University opera theater program, performing art songs by Debussy, Faure, and Schubert, as well as Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi. In April 2000, Jesse was invited as a soloist to perform with the Austin Youth Symphony. He has also actively pursued theatrical interests, as a featured performer in Dames at Sea, Godspell, Anything Goes, and Man of La Mancha. Michael Barnes of The Austin American Statesman, in his review of Godspell, described Jesse's voice as "especially agile [and] expressive". In the summer of 2000, Jesse was invited to be a featured actor in the University of Wyoming's summer theater program, where he starred in productions of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown and The Foreigner. Since graduation, Jesse has been a member of the Austin Vocal Arts Ensemble, recently returning from a performance of Haydn's Mass in time of War at Carnegie Hall, and is a current member of the Houston Choral Society.

Paulette Williams

Paulette Williams’ musical background spans many dierent categories, ranging from choirs, small groups recording artist, worship leader, and vocal instruction. After leaving high school, where she competed in UIL contest and made state choir, she traveled to Louisiana and led Gospel music workshops. She sang on the Praise team at Lakewood church when John Osteen was the pastor until she was oered the position of Worship Leader at Praise International Christian Center in Channelview, TX. Here she organized a youth group that traveled around the city performing at hospitals, senior citizen facilities and halfway houses. Mrs. Williams enjoyed watching the transformation of individuals in under privileged atmospheres receive hope and encouragement from these small concerts so she organized an adult group called “Breakthrough” which went to state and federal prisons, boot camps, and adult substance abuse rehabilitation facilities. This was the beginning of a non-prot organization called “Breakthrough Outreach Ministries”.

For the next 15 years, the team and many members of various churches throughout the city sang, taught, uplifted and prayed for many people. Members from that organization are still holding services every Saturday evening at ‘The Star of Hope”. She has recorded and released two CD’s, “There is Hope” and “You Are the One”. Currently she holds a Bachelors Degree in Theology and is working on a Masters Degree.

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