March 7, 2024 The Music Center Names 114 Southern California High School Students As Semifinalists in The Music Center's 36th Annual Spotlight Program

Nationally Recognized Arts Learning Program and Competition Offers $100,000+ in Scholarships for Aspiring Artists with Performance Opportunities and Invaluable Professional Feedback

LOS ANGELES (March 7, 2024)— The Music Center today announced 114 of Southern California’s most talented high school students have advanced to become semifinalists in The Music Center’s 36th Annual Spotlight program, a free, nationally acclaimed performing arts competition, scholarship and artistic development program for teens. This year, more than 1,520 teens, representing 265 schools, 177 cities and eight counties, auditioned for the prestigious program.

A program of The Music Center’s programming arm TMC Arts, Spotlight offers Southern California teens expert advice, coaching, auditions and mastery classes taught by professional artists and arts administrators in seven categories: acting, ballet, dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental and contemporary instrumental. The program recognizes and rewards participants throughout the competition with more than $100,000 in cash awards following three rounds of auditions. To date, The Music Center has given over $2.8 million in scholarships.

All Spotlight applicants receive written feedback from distinguished panels of judges following each audition round to help them improve and gain insight in their performing arts discipline. An initiative of The Music Center’s fundamental support for arts learning, Spotlight provides students with the opportunity to develop and hone their performance abilities, receive crucial college preparedness skills and gain the confidence to pursue their dreams in the performing arts. Through a supportive environment, students also develop vital life skills, including self‐esteem, preparation and perseverance, that benefit them beyond the stage.

"Congratulations to this year’s Spotlight semifinalists for advancing this far! It is encouraging to see so many young people from throughout Southern California apply for this program, which is testament not only to their talent and potential, but also to their courage and dedication to the performing arts," said Rachel S. Moore, president and CEO of The Music Center. "Dorothy Buffum Chandler, the founder of The Music Center, was an ardent supporter of introducing the performing arts to youth, and we are both honored and proud to keep her vision alive 60 years later and for many years to come. By nurturing the next generation of performing artists, we are supporting them on their individual journeys to serve the public through their art."

Spotlight semifinalists have the rare opportunity to attend a special mastery class within their discipline with highly regarded artists, who share their expertise on performance technique, training and professional life. Experts provide students with invaluable feedback about their performances, offering the students a rich learning experience. Each semifinalist will audition again before a new panel of judges, who will then select the top two finalist performers in each category for a total of 14 Grand Prize Finalists (two from each category). Judges will also name an Honorable Mention in each category. The Grand Prize Finalists will perform in The Music Center’s Spotlight Grand Finale on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at 7:00 p.m., at The Music Center’s Walt Disney Concert Hall.

"We are thrilled to see so many students applying for this prestigious competition. As expected, it becomes increasingly challenging for our judges to select our list of semifinalists because of the students’ sheer talent and determination,” said Jeri Gaile, Fredric Roberts director, The Music Center’s Spotlight. "The Music Center launched Spotlight 36 years ago because we saw the enormous potential of young artists who can make a positive difference in the world. We encourage them to keep exploring their artistic skills because the performing arts transforms lives."

The Music Center’s Spotlight program awards more than $100,000 in cash scholarships annually. Semifinalists each receive $500. Grand Prize Finalists will each receive $5,000 scholarships; one Honorable Mention in each category will receive $1,000. Making an indelible impression on this year’s audition judges, 70 students (10 selected from each category) will each receive a $100 Merit Award; this special honor acknowledges their achievement in the competition and their potential in the performing arts.

To help students interested in applying to the Spotlight program, The Music Center created The Spotlight Academy as an episodic series of online videos and tutorials. Designed for young artists, parents and educators, The Spotlight Academy features more than a dozen webisodes that focus on subjects related to applying for the Spotlight program as well as advice for anyone considering a career in the arts, both on- or offstage. The videos provide a deep dive into the program’s seven categories and discuss curated topics featuring alumni and experts in the field, including New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck, Superstore actress Carla Renata, mezzo-soprano opera singer Suzanna Guzmán and more.

Since its launch in 1988, Spotlight has transformed the lives of more than 54,000 high school students hailing from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Numerous Spotlight participants have gone on to successful professional careers. For example, nearly two dozen finalists are Presidential Scholars, and many more have joined or performed with professional companies, such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Notable Spotlight alumni include Misty Copeland, who made history in the dance world as the first African American principal dancer for American Ballet Theatre; recording artists Adam Lambert and Josh Groban; Emmy® Award-winning composer Kris Bowers, whose work includes the scores for Bob Marley: One Love, Bridgerton, Green Book and Dear White People and who is the co-director of the Academy Award-nominated short documentary The Last Repair Shop; Lindsay Mendez, Tony Award® winner for her role in the Broadway revival of Carousel and current star of Broadway’s Merrily We Roll Along; Erin Mackey, star of Broadway’s Wicked, Sondheim on Sondheim, Anything Goes, Chaplin, and Amazing Grace; Matthew Rushing, associate artistic director for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Yao Guang Zhai, associate principal clarinet of the Toronto Symphony; and Gerald Clayton, GRAMMY® Award-winning jazz recording artist; among numerous others.

Major support for The Music Center’s Spotlight program is provided by Fredric Roberts, Helen and Peter Bing, Edgerton Foundation, Terri and Jerry Kohl, Marie Song, The Hearst Foundations and an anonymous donor. Fredric Roberts is founding chairman of Spotlight; the late Walter E. Grauman is the creator.

For more information about The Music Center’s Spotlight program, visit musiccenter.org/spotlight or follow @musiccenterspotlight on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok and @spotlightawards on X.

ABOUT THE MUSIC CENTER
The Music Center convenes artists, communities and ideas with the goal of deepening the cultural lives of every resident in Los Angeles County. Celebrating its 60^th year in 2024, the $70 million non-profit performing arts organization has two divisions: TMC Arts and TMC Ops. TMC Arts, The Music Center’s programming engine, provides year- round programming inside The Music Center’s four theatres, on Jerry Moss Plaza, outside at Grand Park—a 12-acre adjacent green space—in schools and other locations all over Los Angeles County and on a digital platform called The Music Center Offstage. TMC Arts presents world-class dance with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, free and low-cost public concerts and events, as well as live and digital K–12 arts education programs, workshops, performances, interactive experiences and special events. TMC Ops manages the theatres, the Plaza and Grand Park, which comprise $2 billion in county assets, on behalf of the County of Los Angeles. The Music Center is also home to four renowned resident companies—Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera and LA Phil. For more information, visit musiccenter.org. Follow The Music Center on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @MusicCenterLA.

The Music Center’s 36^th Annual Spotlight Semifinalists