Month: May 2019

Overlea High students to perform in groundbreaking Baltimore Choral Arts Society production

OOn Sunday, May 12, Mother’s Day, 22 members of Overlea High School’s Honors Chorale will perform in the U.S. premiere of a groundbreaking “community opera” – Jonathan Dove’s The Monster in the Maze – presented by Baltimore Choral Arts Society.

The Monster in the Maze is one half of a show, titled Captivity to Liberty, which will feature a total of 200 performers. The show will also feature Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht. Tickets for the 3 p.m. show are available at the Choral Arts website, and the show will be presented at Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd., 21204. (A pre-concert Choral Conversation will begin in the auditorium at 2 p.m.)

“The production is pretty intense, and our students have a major presence,” said Kellie Zephir, Overlea High’s choral director and piano instructor. “They will be portraying Athenian youth who must cross Crete so that Theseus can kill The Minotaur and thereby save them from being sacrificed. As they sing, they will also be carrying a rope that becomes a labyrinth and becomes the arena for the major battle. It’s a very innovative production.”

Zephir, a former member of Choral Arts, explains that the group normally produces concerts and sings symphonic works with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Taking on such a large and complex production as Captivity to Liberty is outside its norm. However, “its musical director, Anthony Blake Clark, is trying to press the limits of what singers in Baltimore do.”

In addition to the singers from Overlea High, the production involves several lead singers as well as the Baltimore Choral Arts Orchestra, Larks of the Junior League of Baltimore, Maryland State Boychoir, Muse 360 (a youth arts organization), and Peabody Youth Orchestra. (Overlea High French teacher Laura Redfurn is a Choral Arts member and will be singing in the show.)

According to Zephir, Clark approached her last May to invite the Overlea Honors Chorale to be a part of the production. “I organized this school year around it,” Zephir said. “The students have been learning music and staging all year, and we have been going offsite to practice with others in the show. This week, every evening, we take a van over after eating dinner so that we can rehearse.”

Even before the big day, Zephir can see that this experience is having a significant impact on her students. “It is blowing their minds,” she said, “expanding their horizons about what is possible with singing. Experiencing the diversity of music and particularly what is happening in classical music is exciting for our students.”

Zephir notes that every year a few Overlea students think about pursuing music professionally. “But in my nine years at the school, only three students have pursued further studies or careers in classical music. That might expand because of the exposure to this experience.”

Because the production is taking place on Mother’s Day, Choral Arts offered each Overlea High performer one free ticket for their mothers and a discounted price for their family members.

The relationship between Choral Arts and Overlea High extends beyond this performance. Members visit the school each year to host a workshop to help students prepare for their singing adjudication.

Students from Overlea High School’s Honors Chorale singing as the Athenian Youth inJonathan Dove’s The Monster in the Maze on Sunday, May 12, 2019:

Benedicta Ajagunna

Raven Askins

Jose Avila-Zepeda

Dasia Biggers

William Brown

Jessica Carpenter

Christopher Cooke

Tyekeir Davis

Kandice Dowell

Ashley Gomez

T’Asia Hall

Teddana Hobbins

Victor Iheanacho

Nia Johnson

Olivia Johnson

Sanaa’ Jones

Ericka Lowery

Mason Mahon

Daniel Miller

Blessing Onuegbu

Nasir Perry

Kaitlyn Rhodes

Kellie Zephir, Choral Director & Piano Instructor…

BCDC Employee Charged with Rape of Juvenile

Baltimore County Police have charged Thomas Michael Mannion Jr, 45, with multiple counts of rape after having sex with a 13-year-old child.

The investigation was initiated Monday, May 6, when a neighbor saw the juvenile enter the residence where Mannion rents a room through a rear sliding glass door just before 6 p.m. Believing his neighbor’s home was being burglarized, he went to the home to assist the homeowner, who gave him permission to enter the basement to check for the burglary suspect. Instead, the neighbor found Mannion naked in bed with the juvenile. The neighbor left and called police.

Mannion initially denied the accusation by the neighbor. The preliminary investigation has indicated that this is the second time that Mannion has had sex with this juvenile, the first time being early this year.

Mannion, an employee of the Baltimore County Detention Center who resides in the 100 block of Bourbon Court in Parkville, 21234, is now being held without bail pending trial.

Police Response to Subject with a Gun Turns Deadly, Injures Officer

Baltimore County Police are identifying the officer shot during an officer-involved shooting in Parkville on May 2 as Police Officer First Class T. Hays, a 13 ½ year veteran of the force with one prior police-involved shooting in 2008, currently assigned to Parkville Precinct patrol. Officer Hays remains in stable condition at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma after suffering a gunshot wound to the upper body.

The deceased suspect in this shooting is identified as Robert Uhl Johnson, 76, residing in the 3000 block of Linwood Avenue, 21234, where police were dispatched to a call of a subject with a gun around 1:37 p.m. on May 2.

The Department provided misinformation shortly after the incident occurred, indicating that the suspect fired a weapon at the officers upon entering the home. Further review of body-worn camera footage and additional evidence now reveals that the suspect picked up a firearm, did not follow officers’ commands to put down the weapon, and pointed the gun at the officers, causing the officers to fire upon the suspect.

Officers were dispatched to the suspect’s home in the 3000 block of Linwood Avenue when Suspect Johnson called 9-1-1, methodically providing his personal information to the call-taker before stating that there was an unknown subject waiving a gun at him inside his home. Suspect Johnson hung up on the 9-1-1 call-taker when she attempted to gather additional information. Multiple attempts were made to contact the caller but he did not answer the phone on any call-back.

Officers from the Parkville Precinct approached the suspect’s home and observed him inside, seated in a chair facing the front door. One officer initiated conversation with the suspect, who refused to get up from the chair or exit the home. Suspect Johnson told the officer that he called 9-1-1 and that there was no one else inside the home. Officers further investigated by entering the house and directing Suspect Johnson to keep his hands up in the air. As the officers entered the home, Suspect Johnson lowered his right hand down to his thigh and picked up a handgun, pointing it at the officers as he said, “I’m sorry I have to do this.” Four officers fired their service weapons in response.

During the subsequent investigation by Homicide Unit detectives, it was determined that Suspect Johnson’s gun was not loaded. They also discovered that Suspect Johnson left his will and last requests for burial out for officers to find.

Officer Hays and three other responding officers fired their service weapons at the suspect. Those officers are currently on routine administrative leave and are identified as the following:

Police Officer First Class J. Hummel, an 18 year veteran with no prior police-involved shootings.

Police Officer First Class A. Burns, a 17 ½ year veteran with no prior police-involved shootings.

Police Officer First Class J. Deford, a 10 ½ year veteran with no prior police-involved shootings.

The Baltimore County Police Homicide Unit will complete their investigation and submit the case to the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for review.

Parkville Student One of Four to be featured in juried state exhibit at BWI airport

Artwork by four students will represent Baltimore County Public Schools in the juried Maryland Art Education Association BWI Spring 2019 Youth Art Gallery. Yancy Quijada Amaya, of Parkville High was of those students. Amaya’s art teacher is Caitlin Tellie.
Joel Ferman Hernandez, of Owings Mills High, Ethan Nagy, of Padonia International Elementary and Frank Rosas-Espinoza, of Padonia International Elementary were the other three winners.

The exhibition, Let Art Take You There!, will feature 24 artworks from across Maryland. The pieces will be on display at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport from June until November in the Airport Observation Gallery. The gallery is open to the public and located on the upper level adjacent to the B/C security checkpoint.

“Their artworks will greet the thousands of visitors who pass through BWI daily,” said Sherri Fisher, BCPS coordinator of visual arts. “The Office of Visual Arts extends its congratulations to the students, their teachers, and school communities.”

The exhibition reception will take place on Saturday, June 1, at BWI.

Victim Identified in Kingsville Fatal Crash

The female passenger who died in a fatal crash on Raphel Road in Kingsville Wednesday, May 1 has been positively identified as Samantha Jean Muehleisen (24) of the 600 block of Yorkshire Drive, 21040.

The Baltimore County Police Crash Investigation Team is continuing their investigation to determine the factors that contributed to this fatal crash. 

Police were called to Bradshaw Road around 7 p.m. when a Chrysler 300 traveling northbound on Raphel Road near the intersection of Bradshaw Road crossed the oncoming lane of traffic and collided with a BGE pole and then a tree, causing the vehicle to catch fire.

The driver and a female passenger in the vehicle both suffered life-threatening wounds and burn wounds during the crash. The female was pronounced deceased at the scene and has not yet been positively identified. The male driver was transported to an area hospital and remains in critical condition.