Thirty-three Virgin Islands music students ranging from 6 to 17 years of age will step up to the Tillett Gardens stage Sunday afternoon to vie for prestige and prizes in the finals of the 11thannual Arts Alive/Vitelco Classical Music Competition.
They will be judged by the members of The Gryphon Trio — violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys and pianist Jamie Parker — who also served as the jury for the preliminary competitions Tuesday at Island Center on St. Croix and Wednesday at Tillett Gardens on St. Thomas.
Fifteen of the 32 contenders on St. Croix and 18 of the 50 on St. Thomas advanced to the finals. They are:
Junior piano — Kemuel Brown, Deveron Leonard, Nicole Moore and Safiya Taylor.
Junior instrumental — Jessee Atwell.
Intermediate piano — Kevin Charles, Darnell Henry, Lavelle King, Ajai Monell, Riise LaFranque, Chelsea Warrican and Kendall York.
Intermediate vocal — Lovia Davis, Daniella Greenaway, Merlissa Thomas and Chelsea Warrican.
Intermediate instrumental — Carlyle Davis, Sheldon James, Sierra Jade McInroe, Yuri Peterkin and Crew Smith.
Advanced piano — Detra Davis and Christine Driscoll.
Advanced vocal — Jessica Benjamin, Paul Lawrence, Karabao Molineaux, Tahja Roberts and Shadee Thomas.
Advanced instrumental — Choni Arri, Karen Bellot, Kent Casimir, Bernadette Kristy Jno- Finn and Gregory John.
A total of $5,000 in prize money contributed by Vitelco will be disbursed as the judges see fit.
The finals begin at 1 p.m. Sunday and should last until around 4:30 p.m. The public is welcome. Visitors may come and go between performances as their schedules allow.