2005 Corbett Awards Announced

Best of the arts; 2005 Post-Corbett Awards honor excellence
By Mary Ellyn Hutton
Cincinnati Post, November 22, 2005

Excerpt:

Special awards shared the spotlight with the winners of the 2005 Post-Corbett Awards Monday evening in the ballroom of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington....

Nearly 500 guests attended. the ceremony, held since 1975 (now biennially). Cincinnati jazz singer/arts educator Kathy Wade, winner of a 1993 Post-Corbett Award, was mistress of ceremonies. Host was Mike Philipps, editor of The Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post, who announced the special awards with Corbett Foundation executive director Karen McKim.

In accepting his Lifetime Achievement award, Johns, assistant principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony and its only African-American for most of his 30 years with the orchestra, spoke of the "good old days when all of the schools had the arts" and of their relevance to the modern world.

"There are 100 musicians onstage at Music Hall and it's always amazing to me how one man can give a downbeat and it's there. There's an empathy we have with the spirit of music, and that's how our society needs to start thinking, to find a way to experience that togetherness."

"I am so grateful for this city and its opportunities," said Lifetime Achievement winner Petersen, who moved here from Utah 40 years ago and found rich soil for her efforts on behalf of the arts. Her work has benefited the CSO and Pops, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Society for the Preservation of Music Hall and the proposed Greater Cincinnati Arts and Education Center....

Conductor Paul Stanbery of the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony and Chorale took the Performing Artist award for his grass roots and educational activities, including fostering contemporary works and directing the Greater Miami Youth Orchestra. "It's a great honor to even be mentioned in the same breath with Paavo Järvi, successor to Stokowski, Reiner and Max Rudolf," said the visibly moved Stanbery (CSO music director Järvi was co-finalist)....

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Richard A. Boehne, executive vice president of E. W. Scripps, The Post's parent company, invited the crowd back to the next awards in 2007. Named in honor of arts patron Patricia Corbett and her late husband J. Ralph Corbett, the Post-Corbett Awards recognize those who contribute to the culture of our area.