Please mark Friday, November 1st on your calendar, and save the date to attend our 2019 Springboard Grants Event, being held again at South Philadelphia’s trendy 2300 Arena. We hope to see you there!
BMFA has awarded twenty $2500 Springboard Grants over the past five years and our goal is to expand this program as we grow. We think you’ll enjoy the following updates on the activities of some of our individual grant recipients. These amazing, talented young people deserve our highest admiration. They are living examples of the importance of BMFA’s grants program and Bruce Montgomery would be very proud of all of them! We hope you will want to follow their progress into the future as they pursue their artistic dreams.
2014
Amber Emerson (soprano)
- After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Moravian College last spring, Amber moved to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a Broadway actress. She has already made “Final Callback” for a role in a major production!
- This spring she had a professional recording session with Joe Hannigan, of Weston Sound, to produce demo videos for auditions and publicity. Philadelphia jazz icon Dean Schneider was the accompanist, and the videos can now be enjoyed on Amber’s website.
- Amber has also been cast as Marion the Librarian in the Servant Stage production of The Music Man in Lancaster, PA, September 6-22-2019.
2015
Cole Redding (songwriter/singer)
After the release of his debut hit single, “Father, Father”, Cole Redding is poised to move in a new direction with a lighter and brighter sound. His follow up single, “Honest,” is slated for a July release with an EP to follow. Since January Cole has written 23 new songs and is excited about the direction his career is taking.
2016
Isaiah Kim (cellist)
- Isaiah Kim, our virtuoso cellist and 2016 Springboard Grand recipient, has just committed to the Harvard/New England Conservatory dual degree program!
- This summer, after graduating with honors from Strath Haven High School, Isaiah is heading back to Shelter Island to attend the Perlman Music Program for the last time. PMP is Itzhak Perlman’s intensive seven-week program for exceptionally gifted students of the violin, viola, cello and bass, ages 12 to 18. Kudos, Isaiah! You have earned them in spades! Maybe we will be able to hear you and Will Fredendall play in the same concert in Boston one of these days!
“Odd Kid Out” Butch Serianni (drummer)
- Butch is currently working on a new album with one of the top producers of this genre of music in the country. “Picking up and leaving to live with Skrillex in California was quite the change. Being surrounded by such experienced producers every day made me such a better musician and the style of the music here opened up a whole new side of my music that I didn’t even know existed. I feel really grateful to have had such an amazing experience at 22 years old.”
When Cole Redding returned to perform at our 2016 Awards Reception, he coined the phrase “Springboard Grant Family” to describe the Bruce Montgomery Foundation. He met Butch Serianni at that event, and this summer they are collaborating on a new “family” project. Stay tuned!
2017
Aryssa Leigh Burrs (mezzo soprano)
- Aryssa is taking Chicago – and other places – by storm! She played the role of Baba the Turk in Northwestern University’s production of The Rake’s Progress.
- Enjoy a YouTube video of Aryssa singing an aria from The Barber of Sevilleat a recent rehearsal at Northwestern.
- Aryssa has been recruited to sing a role in Elvis Costello’s full-length song cycle, The Juliette Letters, in a professional production in Arlington, VA this summer from July 11-14. Click here to obtain tickets.
- She has also been hired by Donald Nally (director of The Crossing) as a soloist for 4 or 5 concerts this summer when he conducts the Chicago Symphony’s summer series in Grant Park. Chicagoans, take notice!
William Fredendall (flutist)
- Will was accepted at the University of Michigan and the Eastman School, but has selected his first choice, the New England Conservatory, and will enter their Bachelor of Music program in Jazz Performance for flute and saxophone this September.
- Will played principal flute in Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 on June 2, 2019 at The Kimmel Center with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.
Emma Murphy (mezzo soprano)
- Emma has had an unusual freshman year at the Jacobs School of Music at the University of Indiana. This was her college first choice because of a particular vocal teacher, Dr. Katherine Jolly. In January Dr. Jolly announced that she would join the faculty at Oberlin College in September! The good news is that Oberlin allowed this professor’s students to apply for transfer.
- In September Emma will begin her sophomore year at Oberlin with more performance opportunities and a financial aid package that is twice the size of her Indiana package. Congratulations and best of luck to Emma!
2018
Braden Ellis (double bass & bass guitar)
- In early June Braden attended the University of Texas McCombs School of Business for a course in Future Executive Achievement.
- This summer he will attend the Sphinx Performance Academy at Julliard. SPA is a full-scholarship summer chamber music and solo performance program designed for string players, ages 11-17. A program with a primary focus on cultural diversity, SPA seeks to actively recruit and engage students from cultural backgrounds that are underrepresented in the field of classical music. The SPA curriculum includes an intensive schedule of lessons and coaching in addition to master classes, recitals, career enrichment sessions, and mentorship tailored for each student.
Peirce Ellis (violist)
- After attending a 3-week Jazz Camp at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan, Peirce will head to upstate NY to attend the Meadowmount School of Music for a 7-week intensive practice session for accomplished young violinists, cellists, violists, and pianists training for professional careers in music.
Before beginning their summer programs, these very-successfully- home-schooled brothers will be on tour for ten days, from June 8thto 18th, in Keflavik, Iceland, with the Temple Music Prep Orchestra for gifted young musicians.
Alyssa Garcia (songwriter/performer)
- Alyssa is going into her sophomore year at Drexel University, majoring in Music and the Recording Arts. This summer she has a marketing internship, in order to enhance her music career.
- Since writing and performing two songs used in the score of the widely praised indie film, “Getting Grace,” she has performed at various screenings of this remarkable movie and participated in Q & A sessions with the writer/director and the star of the movie, filmed in Bethlehem, PA.
Eva Martinez (soprano)
- Eva Rae Martinez, will be attending the Manhattan School of Music as a freshman this fall — her first choice of music schools — as an opera voice major. This talented Central Bucks High School West senior recently performed in a production of “Aida” with the Bohème Opera Company in New Jersey.
Samuel Nebyu (violinist)
- This talented Ethiopan/Hungarian violinist has just been accepted into the Doctural Program of Music at Temple University after completing his Master of Music degree.
- This summer, from July 7-22, Samuel will be giving concerts in California at UCLA and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
- In August he will perform at the Summit Festival in Purchase, NY, followed by a one-week concert tour in Kazakhstan.
- In October and November Samuel will be on tour in South America.
Please visit and “Like” our facebook page to receive timely updates on our winners’ upcoming performances and activities.
If you know a talented young individual or student group, of high school through college age, pursuing excellence in the performing arts, who could benefit from a BMFA Springboard Grant, please ask them to visit our website to apply. The deadline for 2019 applications is September 15, 2019.
Finally, if you shop on Amazon.com, we hope you’ll consider placing your orders through Amazon Smile and naming the “Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts” as a gift recipient from the Amazon Foundation. Every time you make a purchase, Amazon will contribute a small percent of the sale to BMFA.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about our Springboard Grant family and that these dedicated young people will give you confidence that many “Millennials” have earned a bright, exciting future. Please do join us on Friday, November 1st!
With best regards,
Liz.
Liz Montgomery Thomas
Executive Director
