Wharton Music Center Offers Cash Prizes to Winners of Annual Vocal Competition

Last call for vocalists who want to compete for cash prizes and tuition credit at Wharton Music Center’s Vocal Competition. Wharton Music Center is holding its third vocal competition on Sunday, December 8 at Wharton Music Center (WMC) located at 60 Locust Avenue in Berkeley Heights. Vocalists between the ages of 9 and 18 are invited to compete for cash prizes and tuition credits for classes at WMC. Vocalists will be able to purchase a CD of the performance for $10. To participate in the competition, applicants must register at www.WhartonMusicCenter.org no later than November 10. A non-refundable application fee of $25 must accompany the registration. Vocalists are asked to perform two contrasting songs not to exceed 5 minutes. The competition is limited to 16 vocalists.

The prizes and scholarships for the winning vocalists are made possible by a generous gift from Gerry and Christopher Wright in memory of Nancy M. Wright, wife and mother. Both Wrights are faculty members at Wharton Music Center who share a love of the performing arts. Says Chris Wright, “My father and I have wanted to do something meaningful in memory of my mother and the Vocal Competition is a perfect opportunity.”

Judging this year’s competition is vocalist and director, Ken Magos. Mr. Magos, an active musical and stage director and versatile performer, has been seen on stages throughout the U.S. and Italy in professional opera and concert productions. He has had principal roles in Boris Godunov, Samson et Dalilah, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Rodelinda, and Le Nozze Di Figaro. In addition, his concert appearances include the tenor soloist in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Mozart’s Requiem. His regional theater credits include leading roles in The Boys from Syracuse, Sunday in the Park with George, Follies, A Christmas Carol, My Fair Lady, Oliver!, The Mikado, and Footloose. On film, he appeared in Dangerous Affections and Plain Clothes.

More recently, he has served as Musical Director for Passaic Valley Summer Theater’s production of Miss Saigon, Stage Director for The Mikado, and Musical Director for The Sound of Music. He also was Stage Director for The Rocky Horror Show and Rent and is founder and director of South Mountain Theater Works. Mr. Magos has a bachelor’s degree from University of Washington and a master’s in opera and vocal performance from Manhattan School of Music where he was awarded the Richard F. Gold/Shoshanna Foundation Career Development Grant and the Richard Rodgers Scholarship.

For more information on the vocal competition, visit www.WhartonMusicCenter.org or call 908 790-0700 to request a brochure.