Competitors and Results

FIRST PLACE: Erika Peterson

Erika is ecstatic to be a participant in the 2008 Stars of Tomorrow competition. She is a junior at Dana Hills High School and is involved in choir, dance, and drama. She loves to perform, and hopes to pursue it as a career in the future. Erika thanks her Mom, Dad, Hunter, and Hilary for being the best family ever!

SECOND PLACE: Sara Covey

Sara Covey has always been intrigued by performing, whether participating in her school’s celebrated theatrical productions, cantorial choir at her temple, or frequent weekly dance classes. This past year, she received first place in musical theatre and third place in the upper division for classical music at National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Voice Competition. She also received second place in each category at Musical Arts Club. She enjoys teaching at her temple, challenging herself, and perfecting her performance technique. She maintains a 4.2 GPA while engaging in Honors/Advanced Placement classes in her school. Sara would like to thank her support group of family and friends, and is honored to participate in Stars of Tomorrow once again this year!

THIRD PLACE: Rachel Rothman

Rachel Rothman is a 17 year old junior at Dana Hills High School, and is part of the South Orange County School of the Arts (SOCSA) program. Rachel’s passion is singing, and it’s what she dreams of doing for the rest of her life. Since elementary school, she has been in many musicals, various concerts, and straight plays. She majors in voice in the SOCSA program and has appeared in several musicals/showcases throughout the past three high school years. She is excited to appear in the next DHHS musical, The Wiz. Rachel is a song-leader at her synagogue, Temple Beth El, and absolutely loves playing guitar and working with the kids. She is really interested in classical voice studies, and of course, musical theatre. Rachel enjoys participating in voice competitions all throughout Orange County. She loves her family and friends in endless amounts for all of their support throughout her "musical journey". Rachel hopes you enjoy today’s extremely talented group of young stars!

Jack Adams
Senior, San Clemente High School

Jack is a senior at San Clemente High School where he has appeared in seven productions. Jack has been accepted to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo as a Theatre major and hopes to pursue a minor in music. Jack composes music and plays guitar, piano, and flute. Past performances include How To Succeed In Business, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, The Music Man, Rumors, Guys & Dolls (Sky Masterson), Harvey (Elwood P. Dowd). This spring you can catch Jack in the part of "Ren" in San Clemente High School’s production of Footloose.

Sara Covey
Senior, Mission Viejo High School

Sara Covey has always been intrigued by performing, whether participating in her school’s celebrated theatrical productions, cantorial choir at her temple, or frequent weekly dance classes. This past year, she received first place in musical theatre and third place in the upper division for classical music at National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Voice Competition. She also received second place in each category at Musical Arts Club. She enjoys teaching at her temple, challenging herself, and perfecting her performance technique. She maintains a 4.2 GPA while engaging in Honors/Advanced Placement classes in her school. Sara would like to thank her support group of family and friends, and is honored to participate in Stars of Tomorrow once again this year!

Nadia Elmistikawy
Home schooled

Nadia is 17 years old. She has five years of private voice training and a repertoire of Italian, French and Latin art songs and arias. She was in Madrigals in Middle School and is now in the Women's Ensemble at San Clemente High School. In spring 2005, she performed in the musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

Chris Giordano
Senior, Dana Hills High School

Chris is a senior at Dana Hills High School, and has been in many productions there: The Pajama Game, Parade, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Side Show, Look Homeward Angel, Urinetown, Hot Mikado, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Haunting of Hill House, and Fiddler on the Roof. Outside of Dana Hills, he has participated in Seussical: the Musical at Musical Theatre Village and Broadway On Tour. At Broadway On Tour, he is currently working on Disney’s High School Musical. Chris has won numerous awards; MACY’s Special Recognition, 2007 Cappie Commendee, Outstanding Junior in Theatre and Dance, and was crowned "King of the Porthole" at Dana Hills. This past summer he studied musical theatre at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts at CAP21, and plans to continue his studies either in Boston, Pittsburgh, or New York City.

Shea Gomez
Sophomore, Orange County High School

Shea Gomez is thrilled to be participating in the "Stars of Tomorrow" competition! Shea recently performed in her school's production of Cinderella playing the Chef, and also had the pleasure of playing Felicity in The American Girls' Revue in Los Angeles. She was also seen as Lilly in the production of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse at the Laguna Playhouse. Shea would like to thank her mom and dad for always supporting her and for driving her and her sisters everywhere!

Joi Marchetti
Senior, Carlsbad Seaside Academy

Joi moved to Southern California fairly recently from Orlando, Florida, where she was very active in community theaters. She won top honors at the International Thespian Society competitions in the state of Florida, and also participated in the National Music Educator Association All State Choirs. Joi has auditioned for a number of conservatories across the country and hopes to attend one of them this fall. She would like to thank Shigemi Matsumoto and Megan Starr-Levitt for their wonderful vocal instruction, as well as her Orlando teacher, Dawn Pici.

Shannon McFarland
Senior, Orange Lutheran High School

Shannon is 18 years old and a senior at Orange Lutheran High School. She began performing at the age of four and favorite roles since then include: Peter Pan, Queenie in Honk, Polly Browne in The Boyfriend, and Maria in West Side Story. Next year she will be attending NYU for the musical theatre program, CAP21.

Erika Peterson
Junior, Dana Hills High School

Erika is ecstatic to be a participant in the 2008 Stars of Tomorrow competition. She is a junior at Dana Hills High School and is involved in choir, dance, and drama. She loves to perform, and hopes to pursue it as a career in the future. Erika thanks her Mom, Dad, Hunter, and Hilary for being the best family ever!

Julia Ramadan
Senior, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School

Julia is 17 years old and is a senior at St. Margaret's. She has performed in numerous school musicals. Her performances have earned her two MACY Awards and a Cappie Critic's Choice nomination. She has been studying with vocal teacher Joan Simonek for six years, and sings soprano in St. Margaret's Highlander Chorale.

Hannah Rash
Senior, Tesoro High School

Hannah is 17 years old and currently a senior at Tesoro High School. She is an avid member of her school’s choral and drama departments. She is excited to be heading off to college August and hopes to find herself in Boston pursuing a career in musical theatre. Hannah thanks her family and friends for all their support.

Rachel Rothman
Junior, Dana Hills High School

Rachel Rothman is a 17 year old junior at Dana Hills High School, and is part of the South Orange County School of the Arts (SOCSA) program. Rachel’s passion is singing, and it’s what she dreams of doing for the rest of her life. Since elementary school, she has been in many musicals, various concerts, and straight plays. She majors in voice in the SOCSA program and has appeared in several musicals/showcases throughout the past three high school years. She is excited to appear in the next DHHS musical, The Wiz. Rachel is a song-leader at her synagogue, Temple Beth El, and absolutely loves playing guitar and working with the kids. She is really interested in classical voice studies, and of course, musical theatre. Rachel enjoys participating in voice competitions all throughout Orange County. She loves her family and friends in endless amounts for all of their support throughout her "musical journey". Rachel hopes you enjoy today’s extremely talented group of young stars!

Melissa Sakrison
Sophomore, Orange County High School of the Arts

Melissa is a 10th grade Music & Theater conservatory student at the Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA). She has performed twice with David Burnham in Performing with the Pros and recently was the Queen in Cinderella at OCHSA. Melissa has appeared in numerous musical theater productions around Orange County. She hopes to someday originate a role on Broadway.

Drew Starr
Senior, Mission Viejo High School

Drew Starr is a senior at Mission Viejo High School. He has been very involved with his school's activities including: school musicals, choir, sports, and student government. He loves to sing and perform whenever he has the opportunity. Drew is an Eagle Scout and will be attending BYU in September.

Holly Starr
Sophomore, Mission Viejo High School

Holly is a sophomore at Mission Viejo High School. She has been involved with singing since she was six years old. She has competed for the last four years in the genre of classical music. Her hobbies include: singing, dancing, acting, playing piano, reading, and water and snow skiing. Holly wants to thank her family for all of their love and support.

Rachel Viele
Senior, Orange County High School of the Arts

Rachel is a senior at Orange County High School of the Arts looking forward to completing her 6th year as a Music and Theatre student. Rachel has been in OCHSA productions as Rose Hoffman in Working, Agatha in Guys and Dolls and Madame Dubonnet in The Boyfriend. She has been in the a capella singing group Unplugged for four years and the Montage performance group for two years. She has won a Musical Theatre West scholarship and a MACY’s outstanding achievement award. Rachel has performed in OCHSA’s Performing with the Pros series with Broadway stars Alice Ripley, Lindsay Mendez, and David Burnham. She will be performing in OCHSA’s Gala as Judy Garland in March and the California State Thespian Festival in April. She has also performed as a guest artist at the Gallimaufry and Chance Theatres. Rachel loves performing and hopes to study Musical Theatre in college.

Taylor Wahl
Junior, Dana Hills High School

Taylor is a junior at Dana Hills High School and a vocal major in the South Orange County School of the Arts (SOCSA) program. SShe has participated in several showcases and competitions, and received an award of special recognition from Southern California Vocal Association’s (SCVA) classical competition. Taylor has participated in several productions, including the Wizard of Oz, Annie, Big River, Oliver, Bye Bye Birdie, and The Music Man. She was last seen as Chava in SOSCA's fall production in Fiddler on the Roof, and is thrilled to be playing Addaperle in the spring production of The Wiz. Taylor hopes to major in theatre at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television and to pursue a career in the performing arts. She would like to thank her family and friends for all of the rides, love, and support, and Joan Simonek and Mr. Woods for helping her to become the best performer possible.

Emma Werderman
Freshman, Dana Hills High School

Emma has been singing since the age of four, when she first learned nursery rhymes. As she grew older and developed her own personal taste in music, she began to listen to and sing genres of music such as opera, classical, musical theater, rock, oldies, and jazz. She has two years of private training with Megan Starr-Levitt. Starr-Levitt is teaching Emma more about technique, style, and has introduced Emma to more foreign music than she was aware existed! Emma has gained much confidence through performing recitals under Starr-Levitt’s instruction, participating in a musical, and also singing solos at choir concerts held by her choir teacher, Mr. Ray Woods.

2007 – Michael Casabianca
Michael, who won Stars of Tomorrow as a senior at Tesoro High School, was a 2006 semi-finalist in the L.A. Music Center Spotlight Awards, received the 2006 MACY trophy for Highest Achievement, and CAPPIE nominations as Best Featured Actor in a Musical 2006 and Best Male Vocalist 2005. He was also a 2006 semi-finalist in Tomorrow’s Stars at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

2006 & 2005 – John Myers
John Matthew Myers, tenor, is equally comfortable with the classical and contemporary operatic repertoire as well as the genre of musical theatre. John has received such acclaim for his "outstanding vocal performances...with apparent sensitivity" by the Orange County Register and others. Currently he is studying at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Maitland Peters. John has worked in numerous musicals, opera, concerts, demos/workshops of new works, and film. Recently he was seen in the workshop/reading of the new musical, Belles of the Mill, and can also be seen in the upcoming films, Hey Diddle Diddle and True Story. He also appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of War and Peace, under the direction of Irkin Gabitov and the baton of Valery Gergiev, and at Carnegie Hall singing Mozart’s Coronation Mass. At the Manhattan School of Music, he has been seen in Dido and Aeneas as the cover of the Sailor and ensemble as well as the role of Sam Kaplan in the Manhattan School of Music Outreach Opera’s production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. He has premiered new compositions as a featured performer in the Manhattan School of Music’s Composer Concert, and most recently "Love Sonnets" by Fernando Arroyo García-Lascurain. John has won numerous vocal competitions including the Rotary International Young Singer of the Year Award in California, the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Tomorrow’s Stars at the Center, South Coast Singers’ Stars of Tomorrow, Semi-finalist in the Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Awards in both Classical and Non-Classical Voice, South Coast Symphony’s Young Stars of the Future, and Opera Pacific’s Laila Conclin Vocal Competition.