Scholarship Recipients

Paying it Forward

2017 Recipients

Omarius Credle

Omarius is a rising Junior at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he is working towards his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, and raised, mostly, in North Carolina. He has always had a passion for performance and it is often said he would sing himself to sleep as a child. As Omarius plans for his future, he hopes to become a further refined singer that truly communicates the composer’s voice through music to the masses.

Anyeé Farrar

Anyeé is currently an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina School for the Arts (UNCSA), where she studies with Dr. Marilyn Taylor. She will receive a bachelor’s degree in music with a concentration in vocal performance in May of 2018. During 2010-2014, she attended, performed and graduated from the Governors School for the Arts (GSA) in Norfolk, Virginia and Landstown High School in Virginia Beach.

Shaina Rush

Shaina is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Music Performance and the University of Northern Colorado. During her ten years of music-making, she has appeared as a soloist with the Pikes Peak Philharmonic and the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony, as well as venues around the world, including the Auckland Town Hall, and various venues in Australia. In 2010, she was featured in the student corner of New Zealand’s, Flute Talk magazine. Shaina is a two-time finalist in the University Orchestras Solo Competition and she is in her third year as a flutist and piccoloist in the University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble at UNC. She was recently accepted into the 101st Army National Guard Band in Denver, Colorado, and hopes to expand her career as a military musician.

Justin Woods

Justin was born in Washington, Pennsylvania in 1990. He also lived in Birmingham, Alabama, before moving to Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1996. Justin attended Sand Creek Elementary and Panorama Middle Schools in Harrison District 2 and graduated from William J. Palmer High School in 2008.

During high school, Justin sang in the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale, was Vice President of his school’s mock trial team, and a member of the National Honor Society. Justin currently attends American University where he is double majoring in Political Science and Broadcast Journalism. Justin is a Dean’s List student, a senator in the AU Undergraduate Senate, Director of Open Government, and an AU Ambassador. He is also interning at International Government Relations Group during the Spring 2009 semester.

Joshua Conyers

Joshua is a multitalented baritone whose repertoire includes opera, oratorio, and art song. Recently Mr. Conyers sang the role Henry Davis in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, Bob in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, and The Devil gate Keeper in Dvorak’s The Devil and Kate at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. Other recent roles include Horace Tabor in Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, Dr. Falke in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Antonio and Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, VA.

Hailing from Chesapeake, Virginia, Joshua was a student of Robert Brown at The Governor’s School for the Arts. Mr. Conyers is a winner of several voice competitions and the recipient of numerous scholarships including the A.J. Fletcher Scholarship in Music, the Kenan Excellence Award in Music, the Shivers Foundation Scholarship, NATS Award Winner (North Carolina), Bland Competition Winner, and an Omega Psi Phi Competition Winner.

Jonathan Randazzo

Jonathan was born and raised in Long Island, NY. He started playing the trombone when he was nine years old and began to study formally at age ten under the tutelage of Willard Sprague. In high school, Jonathan performed with the New York State All-State Symphony Orchestra and the All-State Jazz Ensemble and was selected for the All-Eastern Symphonic Band. In his senior year, Jonathan was a full-tuition scholarship recipient to the Juilliard Pre-College Program in which he studied under James Markey, bass trombonist of the New York Philharmonic.

Throughout the summers, Jonathan has kept musically engaged attending various festivals, including the Colorado College Summer Music Festival. Currently a sophomore at the New England Conservatory, Jonathan studies with former Boston Symphony Orchestra trombonist, Norman Bolter. As an active member of the Boston music scene, Jonathan performs in several local orchestral venues as well as NEC’s Sinfonietta and Jordan Winds. He has also performed various recitals, solo literature and is an active chamber musician.

“There’s no taking days off. We’re as good as our last performance, and you’re constantly working to be better every day."

Misty Copeland