Two Mellow Cello Fellows take top honor At St. Louis Teen Competition

Information was provided by the Fox Charitable Foundation.

Friday night, twelve metro area high school acts brought the crowd to their feet at The Fabulous Fox Theatre as they poured their hearts and souls out on stage at the St. Louis Teen Talent Competition Finals.  Nineteen students competed for thousands of dollars in college scholarships and special prizes (full list of awards here).  

Technical ability, stage presence, interpretation and originality were all taken into consideration to choose the following students for the top honors: First place ($7,000 college scholarship) went to Christopher Halen (Whitfield) and Grant Riew (John Burroughs) who performed “Pachelbel Pop."

Second  place ($5,000 college scholarship) went to D. Kenneth Tate (homeschooled) and A. Joseph Smith (Webster Groves High School) for performing their original composition “The Great Rapsby.” 

There was a three-way tie for third place with $3,000 scholarships going to classical violinist John Li of MICDS, hip-hop dancers “Super Sick Crew” of Hazelwood East High School and to homeschooled ballet dancer Mikaiah Krueger. 

Several special awards went to finalists and semi-finalists including new opportunities from The Muny and STAGES for Summer 2013 performance opportunities.  

A list of all prize winners can be found at the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation website.  The group of nineteen finalists will also have the opportunity to perform at a variety of events around the metro area over the upcoming year, giving them great additions to their professional resume.

The Finals were videotaped by The Nine Network for a special St. Louis Teen Talent Competition program to be aired on Tuesday, May 14 at 7 p.m.

The success of the previous three events has secured  a fourth annual St. Louis Teen Talent Competition at The Fox on April 4, 2014.