Santa Ynez Valley Master Chorale, Valley Idol April 9, 2011

Singers compete for ‘Valley Idol’ title
Ten Finalists to appear on April 9
Ten finalists chosen by judges during the preliminary round on March 26 will compete for cash prizes and the title “Valley Idol” in this fourth annual fundraiser for the Santa Ynez Valley Master Chorale on Saturday, April 9 at 7 p.m. at the Solvang Veterans Memorial Building.
Co-sponsored by radio station, MIX 96.7 and El Rancho Market, the contestants will perform in front of an audience and a panel of professional judges who will give feedback. Audience members may buy votes to support their favorite candidate.
The winner will receive a $500 first prize, the first runner-up will receive $300 and the second runner-up will receive $100 in prizes.
“We rely on this, our annual fundraiser, to help pay for putting on our spring and holiday concerts,” said Chorale President Terryl Bunn. “We keep our concert ticket prices very low so everyone can afford to attend, so ticket revenue doesn’t come close to covering the expenses of putting on the concerts. All our chorale singers are volunteers, but we pay our orchestra musicians and, of course, our talented musical director and accompanist.”
At the final competition on April 9, there will be two performance rounds, a change from last year’s three rounds. During the first round, each of the ten finalists will perform one song. Audience members will then vote for their favorite singer or singers by purchasing votes. One dollar will buy one vote. The audience votes will determine which three contestants move on to the final round. The judges’ votes will determine which two additional contestants will continue to the final round.
The five finalists will each sing another song in the second round. The winner and runners up will then be determined by a combination of audience votes and the votes of the judges.
The ten finalists for this year’s Valley Idol are:
Benjamin Bado, known as “B” to his friends, recently relocated to Los Olivos from the Seattle area, is a former Pedi cab driver, accompanied himself on guitar, and sang the Beatles’ song “All You Need is Love” for the preliminary round.
Chelsea Chaput, a senior at Santa Ynez High School, has performed with PCPA, was a finalist in the Santa Barbara Teen Star competition, and sang “Maybe This Time” on Saturday.
Kathryn Fischer, attends Santa Barbara City College, loves horses, enjoys singing in the car, and sang a capella “When You Say Nothing At All” for her audition.
Jenna Garcia, a junior at Dos Pueblos High School, also was a finalist in the Santa Barbara Teen Star competition, and accompanied herself on the piano singing “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga.
Emily Hemming attends Santa Ynez High School and loves to sing. She accompanied herself on the piano singing “Speechless” for her audition.
Lauren Hemming, a senior at Santa Ynez High School, dances, competes in track, loves to sing, and sang “Love Lives On” by Emily Hope a capella.
Alissa Lindemann, a senior at Lompoc High School, plays guitar, violin, and piano, composes music and sang one of her original compositions “Indian Summer” for the preliminary round.
Richard Lonsbury, 21, has been singing since he was a freshman and performed “I’ve Known You All My Life” a capella at Saturday’s audition.
William Mann says he loves singing and writing music, and accompanied himself on the guitar singing “Angels” by Robbie Williams
Oliver Rotunno attends Santa Barbara City College as a Theater major. He and his family raise goats, and he sang “Hello” by Lionel Richie on Saturday.
“We are very happy to have a wide variety of singers and styles for our finale. It will be amazing to watch them compete,” said Idol coordinator, Kay Dominguez.
The Valley Idol judges this year are Lynda Kelley, host of “The Morning Show on MIX 96.7,” award-winning recording artist Ricky Hana, and trumpet soloist Michael Roberts.
Kelley, a returning judge, has always wanted to be a radio voice. After studying communications and working at radio station during college, she moved to Santa Barbara with her family and worked with Don Messick, the voice of Scooby Doo and many other beloved characters. Kelley started at KRAZy Country in 2000 and moved to MIX 96.7 a year later, where she hosts “The Morning Show” from 6-10 a.m. and an evening drive show from 3-7 p.m.
Ricky Hana is a two-time Hawaii Music Award winner (2009 & 2010) who performs as part of the duo, Hana & Satchwell. He has recorded with Warner Bros. Records, has been a regular on a Showtime summer program, and has written for multi-platinum record singers. Recently featured on a CBS morning show in Honolulu, he performed the lead song in a recent major TV movie. Hana attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and also the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.
Trumpet soloist Michael Roberts, who has performed for the Queen of England, started the SoulMates Band, a group of local fifth-graders, when he wanted a “soul” band in which his son could play. The members of the band play for variety of audiences throughout the Valley.
Idol coordinator, Kay Dominguez, has taught music in the public schools and through private lessons in the Valley since 2002. She is the driving force behind the SYV Jazz Band, a group of 16 students from 5th through 10th grades, who have won many awards for their performances. The group loves to hold concerts for the community and is co-sponsored by Arts Outreach.
Audience admission to the finale is $15 per person at the door. There are no advance sales. Each ticket entitles the holder to cast $5 worth of votes. More votes may be purchased at the final round.
“We encourage everyone to attend Valley Idol and support the chorale. It promises to be a fun and entertaining evening,” said Bunn.
The Santa Ynez Valley Master Chorale, Youth Chorale and Orchestra is a nonprofit performing-arts group that presents a series of three concerts in May and December each year as well as participating in community events year-round. This year’s Spring Concert Series will be held Friday-Saturday-Sunday, April 29-30 and May 1 at the Church at the Crossroads in Buellton. For more information, visit www.syvchorale.org.
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Contact Zora Shinn at 688-7771, zora@shinnlaw.com for more information.
March 27, 2011