The 3rd Annual Culture Shapers Young Voices of Houston FINAL competition, featuring 12 of the most talented performers in Houston, was held on Monday, April 9th, 2007 at LRC in northwest Houston.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2007 WINNERS!

Simply the best! Twelve of the most talented high school singers in the city gave breathtaking performances during the 3rd Young Voices of Houston Final competition. Walking away with $1,500 and 1st place was Alison Luff (Senior, Klein Collins High School). She’s won it two of the first three years. Winning $1,000 and 2nd place was Carl Culley (Junior, Klein Oak High School), who also won the Final last year. Third place and $500 went to Kristyn Chalker (Senior, Cy-Creek High School). Congratulations to all twelve finalists; you truly are the best in Houston!

Alison Luff

Senior, Klein Collins High School
Grand Prize Winner
$1,500

Carl Culley

Junior, Klein Oak High School
Second Place Winner
$1,000

Kristyn Chalker

Senior, Cy-Creek High School
Third Place Winner
$500

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

These 12 finalists earned a spot in the Final by winning either 1st or 2nd Place in one of of our monthly Semifinal competitions during Season Two of Young Voices of Houston. Congratulations to ALL of our finalists!

Corey Hartzog is a home-schooled senior who is very active in theatre, singing, basketball and playing guitar. He has been involved in theatre for over 6 years and will be working for the Masquerade Theatre Company soon. Corey is very excited about being here tonight and would like to thank his family and everyone who has come to support him. Performing "No More Night" and "What Do I Need With Love?"

Jacob Buras is a sophomore at Klein High School. He’s been singing and acting in shows since he was 5 years old. He has appeared as Artful Dodger in Oliver, Action in West Side Story, and Gavroche in Les Miserables. He is currently taking voice lessons with Jody Haas and was recently seen performing in Oklahoma at Klein High School. Performing "Mama Says" from Footloose and "Stars" from Les Miserables.

Anna Price is a senior at Klein Oak High School. She is heavily involved in theater and choir at her school and most recently, she was nominated for Best Leading Actress in the TUTS’ Tommy Tune Awards for her role as the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods. In February, she 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. Performing "My New Philosophy" and "When Did I Fall In Love?"

Carl Culley is a junior at Klein Oak High School, and has been writing music and playing piano since the age of 5. He has performed in over 50 productions, including Aida, Aladdin, Into the Woods, Bye Bye Birdie, Beauty and the Beast and many more. Last year, he was the lead in the inaugural Mainstreet Theatre Teen Production of Les Miserables. He recently auditioned for American Idol, and made the Top 50 out of the Houston Auditions, performing in front of Paula, Randy and Simon. His most recent accomplishment was his nomination for a Tommy Tune Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Into the Woods as the Baker). Performing "If I Can't Love Her" and "Orange Colored Sky"

Hannah Miller is a sophomore at Klein Collins High School in Klein ISD. She is very involved in choir and is beginning to become more involved in theater. She played Mrs. Potts in the KCHS production of Beauty and the Beast and is a 2007 Texas Allstater. She would like to thank her friends and family for their support, her best friend, Jackson Perrin, and her mother for always being there for her. Performing "Beautiful Disaster" and "Climbing Uphill".

Alison Luff has been singing since the age of 6 and actively involved in professional and community theatre since the age of 8. Alison was last year’s winner of the TUTS Tommy Tune Best Leading Actress award for her portrayal of Annabel Glick in Lucky Stiff after two previous nominations for her roles as Gertrude in Seussical the Musical and Eponine in Les Miserables. Alison is a senior at Klein Collins High School and looks forward to performing in the YVOH competition one last time! Performing "Astonishing" and "Summertime".

Jessica Ferguson is a home-schooled junior. She is a member of the Academy at Theatre Under the Stars and has numerous performing credits with the Tribble School of Professional Musical Theatre. She will be attending the Broadway Theatre Project for her third year this summer. Jessica loves the stage and would like to thank her coaches for their wonderful support and encouragement. Performing "I'm the Greatest Star" and "Dare to Dream"

Anthony Cahoon is a senior at College Park High School and is involved in the varsity mixed choir and the show choir, Rythm-N-Blue. He recently made the Texas All-State Choir and has been a member of district/region choirs for the past three years. Anthony has been involved in choir since 5th grade and is in his 4th year of private voice lessons. He has been in two musical productions: Anything Goes and Crazy for You (Mingo in the cowboy trio). Anthony would like to thank his family, friends, and nintendo for all their support. Performing "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and "On the Street Where You Live"

Sofia Buitrago is a busy senior at Klein Forest who has had a wonderful year as the Choir President, Editor-in-Chief of the school’s newspaper, and presently in her school’s UIL One Act. Sofia has been nominated in the Best Leading Actress category in this year’s Tommy Tune Awards for her role of Lucy in Klein Forest’s production of, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Last summer, she volunteered with Amigos de Las Americas and was chosen to help train this year’s volunteers. She is proud of herself for being in the top 5% of her class and will be attending UT in the Fall. Performing "Girl in 14 G" and "Who Will Love Me as I Am?"

Jessica Van Dongen is a senior at Klein Collins High School, and is excited to be on the Culture Shapers stage once again. This will be her last performance, and she says, “Wow, what an amazing ride it has been!” Using her voice to worship, entertain and touch is her greatest passion. She would like to thank everyone involved in making this competition one of the most meaningful; in particular, Ernie Fitzpatrick, for his vision. Performing "In My Own Little Corner" and "Addicted".

Jackson Perrin is a freshman at Klein Collins High School. He has been singing and acting most of his 15 years. Two years with the Houston Boys Choir, then over 30 musicals at venues such as Houston Grand Opera, Theatre Under the Stars, Masquerade Theatre, Main Street Theatre, Houston Family Arts Center and others. His favorite roles include, Gavroche and Enjolras in Les Miserables, Collin in Secret Garden, a Lost Boy in Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby at TUTS, and most recently Lefou in Beauty and the Beast. Performing "Not While I'm Around" and "What Do I Need With Love?"

Kristyn Chalker is a senior at Cypress Creek High School. A two year All-State Soprano, she just recently competed in this year’s NATS competition and received first place in the Musical Theatre division. She has been seen as Rizzo in Grease, Sister Amnesia in Nunsense, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, but most recently as Amalia in her school’s UIL one act play, The Magic Fire, where she was lucky enough to receive Best Actress at the Zone and District competitions. She would like to extend her utmost gratitude to her friends and family for their endless support. Performing "I'm Going Back" and "If I Loved You"

About the Final...

1. The FINAL features the 1st and 2nd Place Winners from each of the monthly competitions in the previous season.
2. Each contestant is given up to 7 1/2 minutes to perform TWO pop or broadway songs of contrasting styles, with piano accompaniment only.
3. No other props may be used - only the singer may be on stage.
4. The performance is before a live audience at LRC, (Click here for map) in Northwest Houston.
5. The contestants will be evaluated by a panel of three judges and the winners will be announced at the end of the evening.
6. The contestants will be evaluated in the following five areas...
1. VOCAL ABILITY - How solid and well developed is their voice?
2. INTERPRETATION - How well does the performer get us to understand their piece?
3. MOVEMENT - Is their body language, staging, and choreography done well and appropriate for the song?
4. STAGE PRESENCE - How pleasing, comfortable, and in control is the performer and do they connect with the audience?
5. OVERALL SHOWMANSHIP - Do the above four elements fit together in a total package and performance?
7. The Prizes: 1st Place $1,500, 2nd Place $1,000, 3rd Place $500
8. PLUS! Every finalist is awarded at least $100, a Culture Shapers t-shirt, a certificate of participation and a video of their performance posted online.

About the Judges...

John L. Cornelius, II

John Cornelius had the distinct pleasure of serving as William Warfield's exclusive studio accompanist when that distinguished artist served as visiting guest artist at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A member of ASCAP and the recipient of a number of awards from that distinguished body, he has had pieces premiered in Missouri, Texas, Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, and Washington, D.C. Additionally, he has been commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony and Orchestra X of Houston. Having been the music director/arranger/composer for a number of theaters including the Great Caruso, the Ensemble Theater, Adventure Theater in Glen Echo Park, Main Street Theatre and Theater Under the Stars’ Humphries School, he has also written several works for the lyric theater. An active composer, his work includes a number of chamber works. He was featured at a number of Prelude Festivals at the Kennedy Center and has received a commission from the Smithsonian Institute, Going the Distance, a children’s musical about the lives and careers of Wilma Rudolph and Jesse Owens. Of his chamber works, Charles Ward in the Houston Chronicle wrote, “The highlight… was a set of three spirituals arranged for tenor and string orchestra by composer John Cornelius. In O Fix Me, the juxtaposition of an elegant, long melody floating over a sharp, jazzy string riff was electric. “ His most recent work is Chansons Creoles, a song cycle whose text is by gens de colour of 19th-century Louisiana. Dr. Cornelius is a native of Jackson, Mississippi and received his D. M. A. in Composition from Rice University.

Roy Hamlin

Roy Hamlin is the Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Under the Stars. Artistic direction credits there: 110 in the Shade (with an NEA grant), Anything Goes (with Dee Hoty and Matt Cavenaugh), Wizard of Oz, Brigadoon, Pippin, The World Goes Round, and Disney’s Aladdin. He also was associate director/casting associate for the TUTS productions of Hair, Kiss Me Kate, My Fair Lady, Into the Woods (with Leslie Uggams) and Some Like It Hot (also the national tour, with Tony Curtis). In addition, he has many other Houston directing credits.

He collaborated with composer/lyricist John Cornelius and playwright Michael Bobbitt on the original musical Yellow Rose of Texas, presented with a CACHH grant, in concert form, at Stages Repertory. Roy directed the premiere of Carl Rossi’s Yellow to Lavender and recent productions of the one-man comedy Fully Committed for New Stage Theatre (Jackson, Mississippi) and the Vandivort Theatre Center (Missouri).

Prior to joining the TUTS artistic staff, he was the resident artistic director at Baton Rouge Little Theatre for two years. Among many shows for BRLT, he directed the regional premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, which also was presented for the Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. With grants from the State Division of the Arts, BRLT also presented a centennial production of Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan (along with Three Trials of Oscar Wilde) as well as a collaborative production of Oklahoma with the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre.

In other regions, his work as a performer, director, or designer includes the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, Georgia Repertory Company, Georgia Shakespeare, The Jekyll Island Musical Comedy Festival, North Carolina’s Highlands Playhouse, University of Iowa’s Opera Theatre and Playwright’s Workshop, Iowa’s Riverside Theatre, the Iowa Shakespeare Project, Iowa City Civic Circle Theatre and Florida’s Ocala Civic. Roy was University of Georgia and Southwest Missouri State theatre faculty, and a tenured associate professor/theatre chair at Cornell College. He has taught theatre abroad in London, Stratford, and Costa Rica. Roy regularly serves as out-of-state adjudicator for the Louisiana Division of the Arts granting panel on theatre and dance, as well as for the Texas Commission on the Arts. He is also a peer-review panelist for CACHH (Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County). He has recently joined the play selection committee for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s New Works Festival, an annual workshop for new musicals nation-wide held in NYC.

Jenni Rebecca Stephenson

A native of Houston, Jenni Rebecca Stephenson has seriously studied all the performing arts in their various manifestations. Initially beginning in dance, she was an active member of the Houston Dance Coalition, performing with such groups as the Metropolitan Dance Company and the Allegro Ballet of Houston. Her music studies began with piano at Houston Baptist University under Constance Dvoretsky and vocal performance studies with Sharon Smith. She has had featured roles in several local productions directed by Theatre Under The Stars’ Michael Tapley, such as Mrs. Walker in The Who’s Tommy and Lola in Damn Yankees. She was actively involved with the Texas State Thespians and received top honors at the annual festivals and the UIL One-act Competitions for her musical theatre/theatre performances.

A graduate of the University of Houston, Jenni Rebecca received her bachelors of music from the Moores School of Music (majoring in vocal performance, with a minor in theatre). While at Moores, she studied with Katherine Ciesinski (an HGO regular) and was a frequent soloist with Moores Concert Chorale. She performed such musical theatre roles as Carla in Nine and Jenny Diver in The Threepenny Opera, as well as several opera roles, including the Baroness in Barber’s Vanessa and Arcetro in Peri’s Euridice. She was also featured on the recent recording of Dominick Argento’s Casanova’s Homecoming released by Newport Classic.

Hopping over the fence, she began directing theatre productions at the end of her undergraduate career and has directed three full-length operas at the Moores Opera Center: The Impresario, La finta giardiniera, and Die Fledermaus. Additionally, she has functioned as the assistant director of several productions for The Ebony Opera Guild at Miller Outdoor Theatre, as well as the most recent production of Cats at Theatre Under The Stars. She has recently finished her Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre Directing at UH, and her most recent projects include directing for the Stuart Ostrow Musical Theatre Collaboration and the Edward Albee New Playwrights Workshop. Jenni Rebecca teaches for the TUTS’ Humphreys School of Musical Theatre and continues to direct and choreograph for several local and state organizations.

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