Philharmonic awards scholarships to young Las Vegas Valley musicians

Friday, July 22, 2005 | 8:28 a.m.

Three young musicians were awarded $1,000 scholarships in the first Cox Communications/ Las Vegas Philharmonic Music Scholarship Competition held in the Community College of Southern Nevada recital hall.

Violinist James Reinarz, clarinetist Lindsay Lozito and flutist Kevin Wu were selected out of the five competing finalists.

Reinarz, who performed Brahms' "Violin Sonata" is a graduate of the Las Vegas Academy and will attend the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Lozito, who performed Weber's "Clarinet Concerto No. 1," is a graduate of Silverado High School and will attend the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Wu, who performed Piazolla's "Tango Etude No. 3," graduated from Green Valley High School and will attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Las Vegas Philharmonic Associate Conductor Richard McGee and Robert Bonora, a CCSN faculty member and Las Vegas Philharmonic percussionist, judged the competition.

Cox Communication has given more than $10,000 toward music programs for youth and is sponsors the Philharmonic's Kids to Concerts Fund.

In other Las Vegas Philharmonic news, the Hearst Foundation awarded $75,000 to the 7-year-old philharmonic for its youth outreach efforts. This is the third Hearst Foundation Grant. The first, a $30,000 grant given toward Youth Concerts, was awarded in 1999. In 2002 the Hearst Foundation awarded $50,000 to the Las Vegas Philharmonic for its educational outreach.

The grant will be used to toward the philharmonic's educational programs, which will include bringing philharmonic musicians into the schools, expanding music programs to reach larger youth audiences and to create new programs, said McGee, who designed and conducts the Sprint Youth Concert Series. The concerts are presented in January to fourth- and fifth-grade students in the Clark County School District.