Vocal Performance Major, Brianna Wetherington, awarded the David DiChiera Scholarship Award
DETROIT - The Department of Music at Wayne State University is proud announce that Vocal Performance Major, Brianna Wetherington, has been chosen as the first recipient of the David DiChiera Scholarship Award. On Friday, June 8, five vocal area students from the university's College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts' Department of Music performed before a panel of adjudicators who recommended Ms. Wetherington for the prestigious award.
David DiChiera Scholarship Competition Review Panel:
"It was such an honor to sing in front of such prestigious members of the opera community. I have worked so hard to become the singer I am today, and this scholarship proves to me that hard work really pays off. The David DiChiera endowment scholarship will help my family and I beyond measure and it is appreciated beyond words. This scholarship will take a huge weight off of our shoulders financially for my last year at Wayne, and I am eternally grateful to the adjudicators for granting me this scholarship."
The scholarship award was created to honor DiChiera's lengthy career and long-standing commitment to the Detroit community by recognizing scholastic achievement, encouraging continued progress and helping students finance their education in vocal performance and related music programs in the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts. The scholarship program will run for five years. For more information about David DiChiera, visit www.michiganopera.org.
About the Department of Music
Wayne State University's Department of Music will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2018. Notable alumni include opera performer Dr. George Shirley and jazz great Kenny Burrell. Shirley was the 2015 National Medal of Arts winner and 2016 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association. Kenny Burrell was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts and Jazz Educator of the Year in 2005. The Department of Music is also home to the future Gretchen Valade Jazz Center.
About the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts
The College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University serves 2,500 students majoring in 17 undergraduate and 10 graduate programs through the James Pearson Duffy Department of Art and Art History, the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, the Department of Music, and the Department of Communication. Wayne State University, located in the heart of Detroit's Midtown Cultural Center, is a premier urban research institution offering nearly 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 27,000 students. For more information, visit cfpca.wayne.edu or connect with us on social media @WayneStateCFPCA.