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Pinellas musical mentors perform at Carnegie Hall

The three teacher-performers from the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High are adding to a global chorus today.

By FRANKIE HOWLEY
Published February 19, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Derek Weston, Dawne Eubanks and Logan Brown have a gift that began with a passion for music.

Whether they are singing, conducting or playing the piano, it is this passion that inspires the Pinellas County Center for the Arts choral members at Gibbs High School.

"I think it has a lot to do with passion. You can't get enough of it," said Logan Brown, 46, accompanist for PCCA. "Music is something greater. Music is a universal language."

The artists will be given the opportunity to perform today at Carnegie Hall with Una Voce: The Florida Men's Chorale.

The group will perform a choral and orchestrated concert with solos to promote both breast cancer and AIDS awareness with 21 choirs from Paris, Canada and South Africa.

"It's exciting that we are coming together to perform music with a powerful message for the world," said Weston, PCCA director of choral studies and Una Voce conductor for the Florida Men's Chorale. "It's nice to have an organization with this goal through music. We make the world a better place with music."

Weston, 26, says he was coached in conducting at an early age. Having moved from the St. Louis area of Illinois, where he received bachelor's and master's degrees in music education from Eastern Illinois University, he has spent two years as PCCA director of choral studies and one as conductor for the Florida Men's Chorale.

Though traveling with his musical talent is nothing new to Weston, he said it has been a great honor to be asked to perform with the Florida Men's Chorale, to conduct the rehearsal performance and to sing during the performances of When We No Longer Touch and Sing for the Cure.

Being asked to accompany the group to Carnegie Hall was an even greater honor for Eubanks and Brown.

Eubanks, 45, has been teaching private voice lessons for PCCA at Gibbs High School for 19 years. The native Floridian will perform as a soloist during the performances of When We No Longer Touch and Sing for the Cure this weekend. She never expected to make it as far as Carnegie Hall, she says.

"Singing is all about risk. It's about preparation, being able to learn music quickly, to take it beyond the rhythm and work and to make it a passionate performance," Eubanks said. "It takes encouragement to learn, to be brave and take that step when asked to perform. Sometimes it really is you that the conductor is looking for."

With the Florida Men's Chorale, Brown will play piano during When We No Longer Touch and sing with the chorus during Sing for the Cure.

Is it just luck that they are heading to Carnegie Hall?

"I don't think it's luck," Brown says. "Everyone is given opportunity. It's about seeing what's going on around you, recognizing opportunity that comes our way. It's what you do with it."

[Last modified February 19, 2006, 01:08:19]