At 3, he lost his dad in a drive-by shooting. At 19, he's mulling Juilliard ...

[niyad]

Meet Anthony Anderson (NOT the star of "Black-ish) --a 19 year old with an AMAZING voice:

At 3, he lost his dad in a drive-by shooting. At 19, he’s mulling Juilliard for opera.




. . . . . .

This weekend, the teenager will be on stage, singing at the Fort Worth Opera’s annual gala. And he’s also deciding between the Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, three of the top-tier music schools in the nation, where he crushed all his auditions and was offered full rides.

. . . . .
When I got to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, my heart sank a bit. It was not a big crowd. There were the siblings in the back rows, teachers and supporters were scattered in the pews. Ouch.
But within seconds, my untrained ear told me I had walked into something special. The entire church was filled with the deep, sonorous baritone of an older, barrel-chested man. But at the altar was a string-bean kid with a high-top fade straight out of the ’80s. I walked into a two-hour tour-de-force solo ranging from “Come raggio di sol” in Italian to that “Nacht und Träume” in German to a bouncy, bawdy Gershwin tune.

. . . .
“Following his performance, [former U.S.] ambassador Barbara Barrett, 1999 member and vice president of the Association, surprised Anthony by recognizing his resilience and strength in overcoming adversity and announcing that he would be receiving his own Horatio Alger Scholarship,” said McKenna Young, who is with the association.

Anderson’s scholarship means the association will work with the school he chooses and that it will supplement any tuition costs not covered by other scholarships to make sure he graduates from college debt-free, Young said.

. . . . .


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/at-3-he-lost-his-dad-in-a-drive-by-shooting-at-19-hes-mulling-juilliard-for-opera/2018/04/16/2f03e878-4191-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.387c5a70e785

[calimary]

1. SWEET!!!

I love seeing young artists succeed! The arts make the world go ‘round.

DAYUM, what a voice! If he’s this magnificent now, how epic will he be in later years? I hope he goes straight to the top, because his voice, that towering talent, is something we all need to hear. It’s a Thing of GREAT Beauty.

And best of all, I like seeing a great gift being used, not squandered or allowed to wither from neglect. Kinda like a muscle. That’s one piece of advice I pressed upon my own kids: USE Your Gifts!

[tulipsandroses]

2. I have shed more than a few tears recently

Stephon Clarke
Starbucks
Wafflehouse Mass Murders

Today, these are happy tears I shed for Mr. Anderson. I wish him so much success!

As a sidenote, while I am not religious, this is where I have always thought churches did their best work. Uplifting young people and the disadvantaged. So many churches have come away from that and are focused on abortion and gay people.