Posted on: Monday, July 1, 2002

AWARDS
7 performers get fellowships

Seven Hawai'i artists have been selected for the 2002 individual artist fellowships honoring exceptional talent, excellence and achievement in the performing arts given by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Each receives a $5,000 award. They are:

• Rachel Berman, performing artist/dancer, who danced internationally with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, has performed locally with Tau Dance Theater and has taught at Mid Pacific School of the Arts.

• Kenny Endo, music composition/ethnic, who began his study of taiko drumming 27 years ago and is creating a new work for taiko based on the natural elements of Hawai'i.

• Karen Yamamoto Hackler, theater/playwright, has built a background in the theater as an actor, storyteller, teacher and playwright since 1975. She is working on plays based on stories gathered from everyday life.

• Phyllis S.K. Look, theater/director, works with community productions and groups. She is developing theatrical renderings of works by Alzheimer's disease sufferers and their caregivers.

• Lisa Matsumoto, theater/playwright, has received four Po'okela awards for her writing and has directed her talents to educating students through the arts. She is working on a piece on invasive species in Hawai'i that will tour local schools.

• Donald Reid Womack, music composition/chamber music, has taught at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa since 1994, has organized several festivals of contemporary music and is composing a violin concerto.

• Matthew Wright, choreography/ballet, artistic and executive director of Honolulu Dance Theatre, has performed and choreographed in Europe and the United States. He plans to develop a work with local dancers exploring the nature of human emotions produced under adverse conditions.

UH graduate receives grant

Malia Ana Rivera, a University of Hawai'i graduate and now a doctoral candidate at the University of California-Berkeley, has been awarded the prestigious Knauss Fellowship by the National Sea Grant Office. Rivera, also an analytical research specialist at the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, earned a bachelor's degree in zoology and master's degree in zoology with a specialty in ecology, evolution and conservation biology at the University of Hawai'i.

The Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship, established in 1979, provides educational experiences to students who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources, and in national policy decisions affecting those resources. The program mat-ches highly qualified graduate students with "hosts" in the legislative branch, executive branch, or appropriate associations and institutions in the Washington, D.C., area for one-year paid fellowships.

Rivera's current research uses population genetics to explore migration patterns in economically important Pacific marine species. Her work on Pacific bottomfish has contributed to the development of marine policy for fisheries around the Hawai'i archipelago.

Teen picked for piano program

Renate Rohlfing was among 22 outstanding young pianists chosen to compete recently at the New York Piano Competition. The select group of artists ages 14-18 have convened in New York City for a weeklong program of performances, coaching, ensemble playing and educational seminars.

Born in Honolulu, Rohlfing began studying piano at age 3 and had her first public concert at age 8. Her teachers were Elizabeth and Peter Coraggio. She left Punahou School after her junior year to pursue music studies at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Department.