BIG APPLE BOUND:
White Hall, Rison prodigies to represent state at Carnegie Hall
 
BY Phyllis Stokes OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
 

Carson Bohner

Two local teens’ passion for music has been the gateway to some unique experiences, but nothing has eclipsed the opportunity to showcase their talent at Carnegie Hall in New York City. 
 
White Hall High School sophomore Carson Bohner and Rison resident Brett Kelly have been selected as members of the 2014 National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. This is the second year for NYO-USA and the first time that musicians from Arkansas have been selected.

 

The program, created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, evaluates and chooses extraordinarily gifted young musicians, ages 16 to 19, to form a full-sized orchestra. The orchestra travels to different parts of the world, giving the musical prodigies an opportunity to play in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world.

“The depth of musical talent found across this country is remarkable and the young players who make up NYO-USA’s 2014 roster are amongst the very best,” Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s executive and artistic director, said in a press release. Bohner is already an award-winning violinist who has played with the Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra. Still, he said the opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall at his age — in fact at any age — seems surreal. “I would have never dreamed I would get there during my high school years,” Bohner said as he searched for words to describe his enormous gratitude. “Most professional musicians haven’t gotten there yet. Even if I had died and never gotten there, it wouldn’t have surprised me.”

One of the biggest surprises of his life so far came when his dad, Michael Bohner, informed him at school that he had received an acceptance notice from NYO. “My best friend and I both started jumping … right in class,” Bohner said. “I am extremely excited.” Bohner said that as excited as he is, his mother is more so. “I am beside myself … I can’t stand it,” said Landie Bohner. When the family decided Carson would apply for a position, Landie said they expected the process to be extremely competitive and were prepared to apply over several seasons. But Carson was selected after only one try — and out of more than a thousand applicants, according to Matt Carlson, assistant director of public relations at Carnegie Hall. “He won,” Landie Bohner said with a broad proud smile. “”With all those kids competing from New York and Boston and Chicago … he won!”

Brett Kelly

So did Brett Kelly. A resident of Rison, Kelly studies music at Interlochen Arts Academy, a fine arts boarding high school located in northwestern Michigan.

As a part of his studies, he recently traveled to China for spring break to perform and interact with musical artists in Beijing and Shanghai. “You just can’t confine this kind of talent,” said Kelly’s mother, Deupree Kelly, a high school choir and middle school music teacher. Kelly’s father is Tim Kelly, an engineer for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

Brett Kelly said he was never partial to vocals and not very serious about music at all until he joined the band in sixth grade. “From the moment I brought home my first instrument, I knew that I would stick with a horn for quite a while,” said the 16-year-old trombonist.

Kelly was just surfing the Web when he stumbled across the NYO opportunity. He applied but said he, too, had no expectation to win. “In fact, my audition tape submissions were actually quite rushed despite the months of preparation I had undergone before taping,” he said. “This is very exciting. Very few instrumentalists ever have the chance to play in some of America’s greatest halls.”

In July, Bonner and Kelly will pack their instruments and head for Purchase College State University of New York, a school for the visual and performing arts located about 30 miles north of New York City.

To prepare for their debut, they will train for two weeks with professional orchestra musicians and rehearse at the School for the Arts Conservatory of Music. Bohner said he is confident he will be able to learn the music for the tour. Bill Fox, executive director of the Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra, concurs, describing Bohner as “a first-class musician” with lots of ambition. “He is a well-rounded, goal-oriented, talented individual who knows where he wants to go in life, sets his goal to go there and has every reason to expect it to happen,” Fox said.

Vouching for Kelly on the home front is Mark Windham, the University of Arkansas at Monticello Marching Band coordinator and Kelly’s former trombone teacher. “Brett is one of the most eager and talented individuals that I have had the privilege of teaching privately,” Windham said. “And that’s one of the reasons he has excelled so.” Windham said this is a “super proud” moment for Kelly and he expects big things for him in the future.

Before leaving for an eight-city tour, the full-size orchestra made up of approximately 120 young instrumentalists from around the country and Puerto Rico will have its first official performance July 20 at the Performing Arts Center in Purchase, NY. On July 22, the symphony orchestra conducted by world-renowned David Robertson, conductor for the St. Louis Symphony, will debut in New York City at Carnegie Hall –one of the world’s most prestigious stages—with virtuoso violinist Gil Shaham.

Followed by their performance at Carnegie Hall, the orchestra will embark on a coast-to-coast tour with a grand finale at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The Carnegie Hall performance will be streamed live online and available on select radio stations.

For more information about the tour and the broadcast, visit carnegiehall.org.

PBHS teen remembered
by classmates, family, community





Family wait for the balloon release in honor of Artisha Rainey on Wednesday at Pine Bluff High School.
(Phyllis Stokes/Pine Bluff Commercial)

By Phyllis Stokes

Of The Commercial Staff

 

Pine Bluff High School’s football field was charged with energy Wednesday afternoon as the bleachers filled with people who gathered to celebrate the life of Artisha Rainey.

 

Several hundred students, faculty and family members — many of them carrying red, white and black balloons — took their seats under sunny skies, waiting to participate in a memorial balloon release honoring 18-year-old Artisha, who died in a single-car accident Friday evening. The senior was minutes away from her home when she lost control of her vehicle on Hazel Street near 37th Avenue.

 

The crowd stood, cheered and applauded as Artisha’s parents, Arthur Rainey and Emil and Monica Pritchett, arrived at the stadium for the event. In a previous interview, Monica Pritchett said she spoke to her daughter on the phone moments before the crash “She told me she couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I asked her where she was, but all she could say was ‘Momma’ … she said ‘Jesus.’ ”

 

“She was on her way home,” said Artisha’s father, Arthur Rainey. “She was only four blocks away.” Pine Bluff Police Department spokesman Officer Richard Wegner said the accident is still under investigation and no new information has been released.

 

“We are not here to mourn,” art teacher Virginia Hymes said as she set the celebratory tone at Wednesday’s event . “We want to encourage you to uplift her (Artisha’s) beautiful legacy by doing the right thing everyday. Let’s show her how much we love her.”

 

Members of the band provided instrumentals as students on the field and in the stands locked arms in solidarity. One group chanted to the beat, “We miss you Tisha. ”

 

To further uplift the crowd, Principal Michael Nellums said,“We are here to celebrate all the times that she made us all smile, and laugh and when she was silly and goofy … and we all remember those days. “Today we are just happy to express our love and support and show the world that we are going to miss her., that she is gone but not forgotten.”

 

Classmates Sabreen Jolley and Charla Taylor followed Nellums with a poem titled, “After the Sunset.” “We never really get over a passing, we just adjust to it,” Jolley said. “Just like Tisha adjusted to her new life in the kingdom of peace after the sun had set.” Members of the Watson Chapel High School student body contributed to the celebration with a note read by Hymes.

 

Presentations by the Pine Bluff High School baseball team and drama club to Artisha’s parents followed. Ajia Richardson, credited with facilitating the event, took the podium. Before a moment of silence, she again charged the students to continue doing their best every day as a way to honor Artisha’s memory.

 

“This is a wonderful demonstration of love by the students, faculty members and the community,” said Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Linda Watson.“We need to keep this family in our prayers. It’s very difficult for any family to go through this, but God is able.”

 

Arthur Rainey said he was overwhelmed by the show of support. “Just seeing all the love that was shown to my daughter, it makes me proud. I know that I loved my daughter, but just to see the city of Pine Bluff show so much love for her is unbelievable,” he said. “She could be the life of the party and was goofy, but at the same time she just had that glow about her ever since she was born.”

 

Rainey — who said both he and his daughter have suffered from asthma — said he believes a panic attack may have caused Artisha to lose control of her vehicle.

 

Rainey said he has been in the military for much of Artisha’s life, but the two had a special relationship. “I talked to her every day,” he said. He said he will remember her smile, her laughter and the good times they shared. “But mostly, I’ll remember hearing her call me Daddy,” he said.