I read The Columbian article about the Vancouver Symphony’s Young Artist Competition talent search going nationwide (“Young award winners to perform with VSO,” The Columbian, Jan. 20), and attended the VSO’s concert on Sunday. The young performers truly were amazing, and their talent was indeed extraordinary.
However, I think extending the talent search nationally does a great disservice to our local youth, who used to benefit from the young performers program. When the talent contest was limited to performers from the southern Washington/northern Oregon community, the winners were people that might be our neighbors. Our taxes supported the schools they attended, we knew about the music teachers they studied with, and we felt vested in their success. I feel no such emotion toward the winners of a national talent search, and I think our community is the poorer for it.
