Tag: Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation

Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation announces 2024 music contest winners

by Community Contributor • April 30, 2024 • Comments Off

SANTA BARBARA — Six young musicians took home thousands of dollars in scholarships Sunday, April 28, after competing in the annual music contest organized by the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation.

A professional panel of judges selected first and second place winners in the adult instrumentalist, junior instrumentalist and vocalist categories. Eleven finalists performed at the event. Awards ranged from $500 to $6,000 and totaled $26,000 overall. The contest took place at Music Academy of the West in Montecito.

This year’s vocal division winner is Ava Kimmel, 22, a soprano and junior at Westmont College. Second prize goes to Xeni Tziouvaras, 29, a mezzo-soprano and freelance vocalist embarking on an international opera career following graduation from the Manhattan School of Music.

Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation in Santa Barbara welcomes board member Jil Felber

by Community Contributor • April 25, 2024 • Comments Off

SANTA BARBARA — Jill Felber, an internationally acclaimed recording artist and a music professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has joined The Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation board.

Felber is a dynamic flute recitalist, chamber musician, legendary contemporary music specialist, and distinguished flute professor for the UC Santa Barbara’s Woodwind, Brass and Percussion Program in the Department of Music. Her performances have received media acclaim worldwide and are known to dazzle and excite audiences. She’s been described as an “outstanding American flutist” and praised for her “consummate musicianship.”

Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation in Santa Barbara announces board members for 2024

by Community Contributor • November 27, 2023 • Comments Off

SANTA BARBARA — The Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing financial aid to deserving vocal and instrumental students in Santa Barbara County, recently announced the selection of its board for the 2024 season.

This year’s board members are Deborah Bertling, Erin Bonski-Evans, Rosalind Amorteguy Fendon, Ronald D. Fendon, David T. McKee, Kristine Pacheco-Bernt, Barbara H. Burger, Dr. Marjorie Gies, Peter G. Bertling, Neil DiMaggio and Noel Lucky-Ris.

All board members have a long history of service to the Santa Barbara community and the performing arts. Deborah Bertling is a classically trained singer, actor and teacher with more than three decades of experience and has served as president of the PASF board for the last 20 years. She is married to Peter Bertling, an attorney at Bertling Law Group and legal advisor for the board.

Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation in Santa Barbara awards $27,000 for music education

by Community Contributor • July 13, 2023 • Comments Off

SANTA BARBARA — The Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit that supports classical music education through scholarships and grants, has awarded $27,000 to local music programs.

The foundation’s Education Grant Committee met in early June to discuss the 2023 disbursement of funds for music education programs. These funds are distributed following the foundation’s annual performing arts competition, in which individual vocal and instrumental students receive scholarships and prizes to support their musical studies. Foundation funds that remain after the competition are used for program grant awards, said President Deborah Bertling.

“The grant process is by invitation and focuses on arts organizations that support and foster the foundation’s mission,” Bertling said. “Our mission is to provide financial assistance to young musicians studying classical performing arts and to support music education in our community.”

Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation announces 2023 award finalists

by Community Contributor • April 19, 2023 • Comments Off

The Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of finalists for the 2023 vocalist and instrumentalist scholarship awards.

This year’s finalists for vocal performance are Nathan Carlin, a baritone attending Westmont College (teacher Bryan Lane); Lorenzo Johnson, Jr., a tenor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) (teacher Benjamin Brecher); Sibo Msibi, a tenor at Westmont College (teacher Nichole Dechaine); and Ariana Horner Sutherland, a soprano at UCSB (teacher Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian).