These talented performers are headed for stardom!
Meet our Rising Star emerging performing artist award winners, recognized for their creative expression with $5,000 in financial assistance.
Meet our Rising Star emerging performing artist award winners, recognized for their creative expression with $5,000 in financial assistance.
Ching-Yi Lin – Originally from Taiwan, Ching-Yi Lin swiftly established himself after receiving the Second Prize at the Texas State International Piano Competition, performing with the Central Texas Philharmonic. Ching-Yi has been appointed as a faculty associate at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. He also joined the piano faculty of Levine Music in Washington D.C. Currently, he is finishing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Institute as a recipient of the Richard Franko Goldman Prize in Performance under the tutelage of Alexander Sharkman.
“The Rising Star 2020 Competition empowered me and gave me more confidence in my ability to perform...I currently play with Alexandria Symphony Orchestra in Virginia; Iris Orchestra as an Iris Artist Fellow in Memphis, Tennessee; and serve as an in-school Fellow with Memphis Music Initiative. I’m performing and teaching around the greater Memphis area and look forward to continued community engagement concerts that positively impact the community. I also just finished filming with a production company in Nashville for an INTEL commercial! None of this would have been possible if I hadn’t competed and won the Rising Star Competition. This competition helped me believe in myself and I look forward to wherever the future takes me in my musical studies."
– Gabriel Hightower, cellist and winner of 2020 Rising Star Competition
"Enjoyed the evening of talented young performers [at the Celebration of the Arts]. Howard County is indeed an incubator for cultivating the performing arts. Thank you for bringing the talents of these future stars into our lives. I wish each and everyone of them best wishes, may their dreams come true."
– Eileen Clegg
"I would like to thank the Howard County Arts Council. The money I received as the winner of the 2017 Rising All-Star Competition has helped immeasurably with school expenses, application fees, and travel expenses over the last year."
– Sola Fadiran, musical theatre performer and winner of the 2017 Rising All-Star Competition