Belt It Out!

The Houston Grand Opera hosted its 30th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Youth Singers at Rice, streaming the program live on Facebook and YouTube. The months-long application and audition process concluded with eight finalists performing at the vocal competition — congratulations are in order for contralto Leia Lensing from the University of Northern Iowa, who was awarded the $10,000 grand prize! — followed by a seated dinner at the Hotel ZaZa. The evening raised more than $600,000.

Priscilla Dickson



Ben Edquist and Chelsea Helm
Parties

Robert Saucedo has been named artistic director of River Oaks Theatre. (photo by Jason Ostrow)

THE REOPENING OF the storied River Oaks Theatre, which first began showing movies in Houston in 1939, is getting closer to reality after a long restoration process — and now an artistic director has been named.

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Art + Entertainment

THE WRATH OF Hurricane Beryl couldn’t stop the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from presenting 70 students, representing 57 Future Farmers of America chapters from across Texas, with $1.4 million in scholarships to a college of their choice. Scholarships were awarded at last week’s 96th annual Texas FFA State Convention which, amazingly, was held July 8-12 in the George R. Brown Convention Center for the first time in 20 years. The scholarship awards are part of Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s $27.3 million dollar commitment this year to support Texas youth and statewide educational programs.

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People + Places