Unplugged View
by Aaron Rowan
My first official act when life after lockdown begins: an entire week of nightly Young Artist shows at the Dragonfly art gallery downtown, featuring some of our greatest hits. Until that day comes, I’ll just turn the spotlight on a few bright stars of the next musical generation I’ve had a blast featuring during the last several months.
12-year-old wunderkind Zoey Rae came onto my radar last summer when she won in two categories at the Valley Talent Project – female vocal talent and the Wyatt Scholarship for musical theater education. Six months later, she starred in a special Valentine’s Day concert for me at the Dragonfly. Zoey plays acoustic guitar, ukulele, and piano, and can also be found performing with the Central Valley Youth Harp Ensemble. She’s got a heavier musical side too, doing vocals, keys & guitar in two VMI bands, KIDROW and Float On.
We’ll have to wait for many of the exciting local productions Zoey was set to appear in – Shrek the Musical, MPA’s West Side Story, and a feature at Opera Modesto’s Celtic Diaspora concert program, to name a few – but ironically, sheltering in place has opened the door to Broadway. Zoey was recently cast in the first full musical audiobook recording of ‘d’Illusion: The Houdini Musical’ by composer Balint Varga. The two last worked together during Zoey’s stint on Broadway Dreams at the Gallo Center. She’s no stranger to Balint’s brilliance and could not be more thrilled to be part of this history-making moment with him.
Zoey also spends her time studying ballet, jazz & tap dancing with Central West Ballet and learning vocal technique with international opera star Annalisa Winberg of Opera Modesto. You’ll find her on stage at this year’s Summer Opera Institute, and back at my series soon with another feature program. Remember to support your local independent music and art spaces once life starts returning to normal.
Intimate performances. Infinite playlist. MODESTO UNPLUGGED. www.
