The Cincinnati Arts Association is pleased to announce the winners of its Overture Awards Competition, held on Saturday, March 16, 2024 at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater, and the winners of its Arts Educator Award for Excellence in Arts Instruction. The competition awarded $3,000 to six area students for education and training, $1,000 each to the 18 runners-up, and $1,000 each to two Arts Educator Award winners.

 

The Overture Awards recognizes, encourages, and rewards excellence in the arts among Tri-state students in grades 9-12 and is the area’s largest solo arts competition. Students are nominated by their schools and/or private studios to compete in one of six disciplines: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, and Vocal Music. There are three levels of competition: Regional, Semi-Final, and Final.

 

The Arts Educator Award promotes and rewards excellence in arts instruction throughout Greater Cincinnati. An educator who teaches any of the following arts disciplines may be nominated: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, and Vocal Music. A nominee may be a high school arts specialist, teaching artist working with high school students, or an arts professional or educator providing private lessons or instruction. Students between the ages of 14-19 who are currently enrolled in high school submit nominations for their favorite educators. A panel of arts professionals select the Arts Educator Award finalists and winners from the nominations.

 

The Overture Awards Regional Competitions were held virtually in January 2024. The top twenty-five percent of competitors in each discipline advanced to the Semi-Finals, which were held at the Aronoff Center from February 1-3.

 

Now in its twenty-eighth year, The Overture Awards was launched in 1996 by the Cinergy Foundation (now Duke Energy) and Leadership Cincinnati (a program of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber). The Overture Awards is funded and administered by the Cincinnati Arts Association and relies on hundreds of volunteers from the community who help raise funds, adjudicate, manage the competitions, and nurture the program.

2024 Overture Award Winners

 

CREATIVE WRITING: Hailey Hartman, grade 12, William Mason High School

HOMETOWN: Mason, OH – Hailey has been scribbling stories and poems for as long as she could hold a pencil. Her writing has won her six awards from the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition. Outside of poetry, she channels her love of words into public speaking and is the President of her school's Model UN team.

 

DANCE: Isabella Shearer, grade 12, School for Creative and Performing Arts / Just Off Broadway

HOMETOWN: Mt. Washington, OH – Isabella started her artistic journey at age nine, under the direction of Daryl Bjoza and Sara Swinehart at the School for Creative and Performing Arts. She has performed numerous lead roles at SCPA. Her dream is to pursue a BFA degree in college and share her talents with the world.

 

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: Christy Kim, grade 12, William Mason High School

HOMETOWN: Mason, OH – Christy has been playing the violin since the age of six and now plans to pursue music professionally. She has won top prizes in numerous competitions, most recently the 2023 Sejong Music Competition, the 2023 Matinee Musicale Scholarship Competition, and the 2023-24 Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. Christy has been featured on National Public Radio's From The Top radio show with host Peter Dugan.

 

THEATER: Natalie Hudepohl, grade 12, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy / The Musical Arts Center / Cincinnati Music Academy

HOMETOWN: Montgomery, OH – Natalie's favorite roles include Portia in Something Rotten, Evie in Disney's Descendants, Annie in Annie, and Molly Aster in Peter and the Starcatcher. For four years, Natalie was in the Young Artist Preparatory Program for young opera singers. She was an Overture Awards Semi-Finalist in Vocal Music in 2021. Natalie plans to attend the Honors College at Clemson University and major in Nursing.

 

VISUAL ART: Ellen Zhang, grade 12, William Mason High School

HOMETOWN: Mason, OH – Ellen has enjoyed creating art for over six years in many different media, including painting and sculpture. As an artist, she received a perfect score on the AP 2-D Art and Design Portfolio and a Gold Key on the Scholastics Art Portfolio. Ellen's dream is to be an installation artist. Outside of art, Ellen enjoys Chinese traditional dance, calligraphy, and reading.

 

VOCAL MUSIC: Ella Clark, grade 12, Dixie Heights High School / Talia Zoll Studio of Music

HOMETOWN: Independence, KY – Ella recently placed first in the regional Schmidt Vocal Competition and third in the 2023 Matinee Musicale competition and is a two-time Overture Awards finalist. She loves participating in her school's musicals, the May Festival Youth Chorus, and Dixie’s chamber choir. Ella hopes to double major in music education and vocal performance. She would like to thank her voice teacher, Talia, for the support and guidance throughout the years.

 

2024 Arts educator award Winners

 

Lincoln Chapman, Musical Arts Center (posthumous winner)

Discipline: Vocal Music

Nominated by Sabine Huhn and Alice Pooley

John Ingram, Private Instructor

Discipline: Instrumental Music

Nominated by John Paul Shannon,

 

The Cincinnati Arts Association is supported [in part] by the Ohio Arts Council,
which receives support from the State of Ohio, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

The Overture Awards are endowed by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation.

 

Overture Scholarship Sponsors:  Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.; Otto M. Budig Family Foundation; Punky’s Pixels; Summerfair Cincinnati; TriHealth

 

Printing Sponsor:  Harlan Graphics

 

THANK YOU to the following generous supporters of Dancing for the Stars and The Overture Awards:

A Catered Affair, Accent on Cincinnati, Arthur Murray – Cincinnati, Amanda Barraza, Douglas Beal, Bonita Brockert, Chris O’Brien & Janeen Coyle, Lane Glick, Heidelberg Distributing Company, JD Hughes, David Kapor, Jon Lawhead, Jeremy Mainous, Frank Marzullo, Metropolitan Club, Diana Nguyen, Amanda Orlando, Morgan Angelique Owens, Tom Parker, Party Source, Pepsi, Prime Cincinnati, Primo Italian Steakhouse, Punky’s Pixel’s, Erin Rolfes, Skyline, Litsa Spanos, Britton Spitler (as Brock Leah Spears), Andrea Stefano, Street City Pub, That’s So Sweet, Josh Tilford, Rostislav Toporski, Melissa Vaughn, Vonderhaar’s Catering.

 

 

The 2024 Overture Awards Finalists

 

Winners listed in bold.

CREATIVE WRITING

• Marguerite Flaig, grade 11, Ursuline Academy
• Hailey Hartman, grade 12, William Mason High School
• Nkemdilim (Anna Rose) Matu, grade 12, William Mason High School
• Lillian Waltz, grade 11, Indian Hill High School

 

DANCE

• Nora Doyle, grade 9, School for Creative and Performing Arts / Just Off Broadway
• Isabella Shearer, grade 12, School for Creative and Performing Arts / Just Off Broadway
• Alexandria Yetter, grade 11, Sycamore High School / Hairston School of Dance
• Audrey Zuziak, grade 11, Dixie Heights High School / Expressions Dance Theater

 

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

• Christy Kim, grade 12, William Mason High School
• Grace Kim, grade 11, William Mason High School
• Erica Nam, grade 11, Walnut Hills High School
• Keliang Yao, grade 11, The Seven Hills School / University of Michigan

 

THEATER

• Oluwatobiloba ”Tobi” Aina, grade 12, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy / The Musical Arts Center
• Arabella Bertucci, grade 12, Campbell County High School
• Natalie Hudepohl, grade 12, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy / The Musical Arts Center / Cincinnati Music Academy
• Ali Lewis, grade 11, Mercy McAuley High School

 

VISUAL ART

• Isabella Brink, grade 12, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy
• Rylee Dissinger, grade 12, Oak Hills High School
• Alisha Verma, grade 12, William Mason High School
• Ellen Zhang, grade 12, William Mason High School

 

VOCAL MUSIC  

• Ella Clark, grade 12, Dixie Heights High School / Talia Zoll Studio of Music
• Jacob Eddingfield, grade 12, Elder High School / Michelle Wells Voice Studio
• Ishanvi Karthikeyan, grade 11, Lakota West High School
• Evan Stuart, grade 12, Highlands High School / Keen Voice Studio 

 

Founded in 1992, the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) is a not-for-profit organization that oversees the programming and management of two of the Tri-state’s finest performing arts venues – the Aronoff Center for the Arts and Music Hall – and is dedicated to supporting performing and visual arts. Each year, CAA presents a diverse schedule of events; serves upwards of 700,000 people in its venues; features the work of talented local, regional, and national artists in the Weston Art Gallery (located in the Aronoff Center); and supports the work of more than one dozen resident companies. Since the inception of its acclaimed arts education programs in 1995, CAA has reached more than two million students and adults.

 

CAA is proud to be a member of Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Greater Cincinnati Alliance for Arts Education, Visit Cincinnati (formerly Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau), Greater Cincinnati Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce.