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Sonny Ríos's students compose a wide variety of musical tastes and
styles: Contemporary popular music, Country & Western, rock-n-roll, hip-hop, Tejano, musical theatre, sacred, gospel,
contemporary Christian, jazz, soul, are rhythm-n-blues, classical recital, oratorio, and opera.
Some of these students have gone on to sing across the USA and abroad. Some are singing or have sung in Las Vegas, Branson,
Nashville, Dallas Summer Musicals, Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Houston Opera, Irving Symphony, Six Flags Over Texas, Casa
Mañana of Fort Worth, Garland Musicals, American Entertainment Productions, Grapevine Opry, Garland Opry, Mesquite Opry, Wiley
Opry, The Johnny Highs Show, The Jimmy Jones Family Show, Antone's in Austin, TX, on cruise ships, and etc.
Others are amateur singers such as secretaries, school teachers, church choir members, students of all ages, housewives, and
the likes who are in demand in churches, civic clubs and other organizations.
Others have won
talent competitions at the state and national levels. Sonny's students have won the "Best Voice" award in the state of
Texas music camps, both University Interscholastic League (UIL) and Texas Association of Private Schools (TAPS).
Singers with an intense desire of becoming successful performers continue to come from all over the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex,
the state of Texas, surrounding states, and as far away as New York, Los Angeles, Colorado Springs, Phoenix, and etc. to
study with Sonny Ríos.
SRVS Students Appear on TV, Broadway shows, and Special Concert:
Candice McEnturff sang Cossette in Les Miserables
and a lead role in Godspell. She also sang Alice in Lucia di Lammermoor sextet (see photos below). Gloria Dorsey and Byron Miño appeared on the Comcast Cable Network. And LaShondra Peck opens program for Met opera star. And, finally,
Keith Bailey, Candice McEnturff, Byron Miño,
and Sonny Ríos sing for the Metroplex Chinese Celebration.
Metroplex Chinese Musical Celebration: The
Sonny Rios Voice Studios were asked to participate in the Metroplex Chinese Musical Celebration held Saturday 17, 2005, in
Plano, TX. (See photos below.) Those performing from the studios were Candice McEnturff (far right)
from Midlothian, TX., Kieth Bailey (second from left) from DeSoto, TX., Sonny Ríos (third from
left), from Cedar Hill, TX., and Byron Miño (fourth from left) from Coppell, TX. Joining these,
as they sang Psalm 103 set to the music of the famous sextet from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, were Brenda Yu (second from
right) from Dallas, Tx., and Edward Flaspoehler (far left) also from Dallas, TX. A standing ovation was given at
songs's end by the close to four thousand in attendance. (Please click on the photos to enlarge.)
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| The Sextet from "Lucia" |
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| Byron Miño and Brenda Yu |
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| Brenda Yu and Candice McEnturff |
THE SONNY RIOS VOICE STUDIO REPRESENTED WELL! Of the twenty-two people
that were selected from hundreds that auditioned for the DeSoto, Texas, Star Search, eleven students were from The SRVS
(Eight present and three former). These represented the Studios extremely well as Brookell Barber-Dyer
(now with Disney) won first place in the children's division (7-12yo), Britney Johnson won first
place in the teens division (13-18yo), Juliann Marquez (former student who is now in college) won
first place in the adult division (19-55yo), and Lilly Madison and Jan Rouse
who won first and second place, respectively, in the Seniors division (55+yo). So, we say "Congratulations!" to all five for
a job well done!!! Keep the great work up!!!
Also, presently, LaShondra Peck,
Britney Johnson and Lilly Madison have been selected to compete in the
final competition for "Night at The Apollo" in New York City. The winner will travel to The Big Apple to appear at the Apollo.
So, we say to each, "Break a leg!" Win or lose, all of you are superb!!!
And, finally, Byron Miño, superb tenor from Ecuador, has just completed a second successful concert tour
in South America to high reviews. (Please see the article on Byron as "Student of The Year" below.)
SRVS STUDENTS OF THE MONTH: This month we feature four SRVS students:
Candice McEnturff and LaShondra Peck, both from the South Metroplex
studio in Duncanville, TX., and Gloria Dorsey and Byron Miño from the
North Metroplex studio in Addison, TX.
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| Gloria Dorsey and Byron Miño |
In the photo at left you see Gloria
Dorsey and Byron Miño who performed the famous duet from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom
of The Opera "All I ask of You" for Dee Taylor's television program which aired on Tuesday, November
15, 2005, on the Comcast cable network. They did a magnificent job!
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| Candice McEnturff (on right) |
In September 2005 Candice McEnturff
(on right in photo at left) performed the role of Cossette in Les Miserable and then sang Alice in the sextet from
Lucia di Lammermoor for the Metroplex Chinese Musical Celebration. And in November 2005 she sang one of the female
lead-roles in Godspell.
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| LaShondra Peck |
LaShondra Peck
(photo at left), as part of her busy performing schedule, opened for Metropolitan Opera soprano, Jammieca D. Mott,
in The Black Academy of Arts and Letters presentation of classical art songs, operatic arias, and Negro spirituals in
November 2005.
We wish LaShondra and Candice, two
young rising stars, as well as Gloria and Byron, both established artists, the best of everything! Sonny Ríos is
proud to be your vocal instructor.
Miño Records with Budapest Symphony:
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| Byron Miño |
At left you see Byron Miño,
superb tenor, as he sings "Oh, Holy Night" during The Sonny Ríos Voice Studios 2004 Christmas show. Mr. Miño, who is from
Quito, Ecuador, has been studying with Sonny Ríos since 1998. Mr. Ríos says that "Byron has one of the most beautiful
tenor voices I have heard and have had the privilege of working with." That is a great compliment owing to the fact that Mr.
Ríos has worked with several top tenor voices who have gone on to have an established singing career.
Ríos became acquainted
with Byron Miño in the Fall of 1997, as he was purchasing a new auto where Byron happen to be the pre-owned car sales manager.
When Byron found out Sonny Ríos was a vocal coach, he wanted to know if he would teach him and, to prove that he had something
that was teachable, played him a homemade recording where he sang along with Luciano Pavarotti. Sonny was immensely impressed.
And the rest is history!
Byron began to study earnestly
with Sonny Ríos in the winter of 1998. Soon he was being asked to perform for many different functions, some as far away
as Chicago and Atlanta. In the summer of 1999, Byron took third place in the Beethoven Opera Competition held at The Dallas
Galleria. And in March of 2003, Byron was the guest artist for WRR-FM's (Dallas's own classical station) program that
was presented at the Dallas Car Show.
Byron completed an extremely
successful South American concert tour in July, 2003. All reviews, without exception, were most positive! Now Byron is getting
ready for several important dates on his schedule. But first, there was a recording session with the Budapest symphony orchestra
in Hungry in September '03. Then there was The Sonny Ríos Voice Studios Fall concert on September 2003, the SRVS 2004
Winter-Spring Concert, a concert at the Granada Theatre of Dallas, the SRVS 2004 Fall concert, and the SRVS 2004 Christmas
Show. Next comes a return concert tour of Ecuador, an UNICEF concert together with other known artists, two
concerts in Germany, and not to mention his busy schedule in the USA. On July 4th, 2005, Byron was the guest soloist
with the Irving Symphony Orchestra during their Fourth of July Independence celebration.
We truly believe that
Byron has a great future as a concert artist. Best of wishes, Byron, and break a leg! (Please click on the above photo to
view the full-size image.)
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