Long Island Has Talent!
Got Talent? Long Island
MARCH 25th, 2011
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Awards:
1) Cassidy Paige- Rising Star Under 13
2) Emma Borrie- Rising Star 13 +
3) Salvatore Valentinetti- Audience Choice Award
4) Crystalyn Wynter- 2011 Grand Prize Winner
Thank you everyone for your continued support! We had an incredible amount of talent this year. Got Talent? Long Island was a huge success.
On March 25th, 2011 at 7:30 pm, 20 finalists gave it their all at the Huntington Art Council's Third Annual Got Talent? Long Island event. The show was held at Dix Hills Performing Arts Center, Five Towns College.
Performers of all ages impressed judges Martha Wash (The Weather Girls), John Platt (WFUV Personality), Donna Drake (Live It Up!), Donna McKenna (Donna McKenna Casting) and Glenn Gamboa (Newsday). The competition was fierce and intense. Each contestant gave a memorable performance.
Judy Martin from News 12 Long Island hosted the event. Martin, accompanied by Sandy Valerio, entertained the crowd with a selection of three songs: "All That Jazz" by Fred Ebb and John Kander, "More Than You Know" by Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu and "Sooner or Later" by Stephen Sondheim.
As for the finalists, their performances ranged from Julia Losner's "Think of Me" by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Phantom of The Opera) to Spare Change's "Dude Looks Like A Lady" (Aerosmith). The audience was kept at the edge of their seats the whole time.
"Watching the progression and talent grow year to year, the encouragement that the performers give each other and watching how the audience will nearly stop a performer with applause, is great and rewarding to us," said Executive Director, Diana J. Cherryholmes.
Crystlayn Wynter gave the audience chills with "Everything I Know" by Lin-Manuel Miranda (In The Heights). This performance landed her the number one spot as Got Talent? Long Island's Grand Prize Winner! Other awards included the Audience Choice Award (Salvatore Valentinetti), Rising Star 14 and Over (Emma Borrie) and Rising Star 13 and Under (Cassidy Paige).
"The talent was so astounding that one audience member rushed home at intermission to bring his kids...they could not miss this event," said Cherryholmes.
The next major musical event for the Huntington Arts Council will be the 46th Huntington Summer Arts Festival. The festival will kick-off on June 25, 2011 with a performance by Martha Wash (an American singer and songwriter of R&B, soul, house and club music). Other exciting evenings include the return of "Puppets on the Sound," and a reunion of The Chapin Family to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Harry Chapin's passing. The Chapin program on July 16th, 2011 is a collaboration between the Huntington Arts Council, the Town of Huntington, Long Island Cares and the Folk Music Society of Huntington.
For more information or questions regarding events please visit www.huntingtonarts.org or call 631-271-8423.
