July Newsletter

ARTS AND RECREATION
GREENWOOD VILLAGE ARTS AND HUMANITIES
COUNCIL AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS
The Greenwood Village Arts and Humanities Council has awarded their annual scholarships to two talented, students. This year,
the Council received 21 applications from local graduating seniors. The scholarships are available to any Arapahoe County senior
that is pursuing a degree in the arts. After some challenging deliberation the Council chose two students to receive $5,000 each
to go toward their college costs. The scholarships were awarded to David Weinstein and Willem Luyten, both graduates of
Cherry Creek High School.
WILLEM LUYTEN
Willem Luyten has
studied violin since
age three with Scott
Esty and Emily
Ondracek. Willem
will attend
Northwestern
University next year
where he intends to
double major in
violin performance
and computer
science. He has
been a winner of
numerous local
competitions,
including the
Colorado MTNA,
Stillman-Kelley
Competition, the
Loveland
Symphony Orchestra Young Artists’
Competition, the Broomfield Symphony
Orchestra Concerto Competition, and the
Colorado Young Sinfonia Young Artists’
Competition.
Willem was selected to attend the tuition-free
Brian Lewis Young Artists’ Program, where he
soloed with the Fairbanks Symphony
Orchestra. In addition, Willem was invited to
perform as soloist with the Pikes Peak
Philharmonic. Over the summer, Willem
attended the Encore Chamber Music program
at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Bowdoin
International Music Festival at Bowdoin
College, the Heartland Chamber Music
Program, where he performed live on Kansas
Public Radio, the Killington Chamber Music
Festival, and the Lone Star Young Artists’
Program. Willem has been selected numerous
times to perform in the Western States
Honors Orchestra and the Colorado All-State
Orchestra as first violin and concertmaster in
their top orchestras.
DAVID WEINSTEIN
David Weinstein is a singer-songwriter from Greenwood Village. He writes
mainly pop and alt-rock and is currently working on his debut EP.
David played in
front of his first
large audience
with Inside the
Orchestra when
he was 6-yearsold.
It was a
Haydn’s
Concerto in front
of a few hundred
people and he
immediately fell
in love with the
rush of
adrenaline that
came from being
on stage.
Classical music,
however, did not hold his attention and after a few more years of playing
Beethoven, Bach, and Chopin, he picked up the guitar and started learning
covers of the contemporary artists he loved.
Soon thereafter he began playing open mic nights around Denver eventually
migrating to busking downtown as it gave him an audience whenever and
wherever he wanted. David has played in various venues including Union
Station, Herman’s Hideaway, Brew Haus, Officer’s Club, and the Museum of
Contemporary Art, as well as a few local public concerts he’s put together.
Last year, David played at the Boulder Creek Fest as the winner of their Teen
Songwriting contest and showcased for Universal Records in LA, as a finalist
in the School of Rock national competition. The year before he received a
full scholarship to Berklee’s 5-week summer camp as part of the Rock
Workshop.
After attending the Durango Songwriting Expo, he connected with a few
industry professionals who have since been helping him further his career.
David has been working hard writing songs both for himself as well as other
artists. Aron Forbes, Nick Pingree, and Jason Mater are just a few of the big
industry producers and songwriters with whom he has recently written.
While at Cherry Creek High School, in addition to pursuing a career as an
independent musician, David started the songwriter club, was a varsity
athlete, and honor student. He intends to continue studying music at NYU’s
Tisch School of Music. He will be in the Clive Davis Recorded Music
Program. GV
JULY 2020 | GV NEWSLETTER PG. 21