Larkin High School senior Emvi Legaspi and sophomore Emialy Legaspi perform "You are the Reason" by Calum Scott at the school's Talent Showcase on Feb. 15. The brother and sister duo will compete against the other top finishers from the U-46 high schools at TalentFest at the Hemmens on March 8.
Courtesy of John Konstantaras
Elgin Area School District U-46's annual TalentFest is a talent competition featuring two finalists from each of the five District U-46 high schools. The two acts are chosen by judges or audience votes from the high schools' talent shows, which all took place over the past few weeks.
Larkin High School seniors Kayla Griffin and Joshua James sing "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" by Megan Trainor at the Larkin Talent Showcase. They will compete against other U-46 high school finalists at the March 8 TalentFest at the Hemmens.
Courtesy of John Konstantaras
The performing arts competition will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, at the Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin. Tickets are $5 at the door or can be purchased at hemmens.org.
Coming in first place at the South Elgin Talent Show and progressing to TalentFest 2022 at the Hemmens is Feather Report. Members have fallen in love with the jazz genre of music and perform a song called "The Chicken," written by Jaco Pastorius. Playing at their school competition on Feb. 16 are, from left, senior Andrew Hilario, trumpet; senior Dylan Dankel, keyboard; senior Collin Van Der Karr, drums; junior Christian Freehill, bass; and senior Olivia Diehl, saxophone.
Courtesy of Dave Tonge
At TalentFest, all 10 acts perform in the first part. At intermission, each member of the audience votes for their favorite act. The five acts receiving the most audience votes perform again, this time also evaluated by five preselected judges.
The Can Line took second place at the South Elgin High School talent competition and will compete at TalentFest. Made up of percussionists in the schools drum line, from left, are juniors Christopher Avila, Gabbi Flynn and Anna Fleck, and seniors Joe Lortie and Collin Van Der Karr. Their piece was called "Stinken Garbage," and features unique drum parts designed for trash cans. The members have been collectively playing drums for five to six years.
Courtesy of Dave Tonge
Those judges choose the first, second and third place winners. The winners receive a cash prize and a plaque.
The school that has the most audience votes combined between its two acts receives the traveling TalentFest Trophy.
On Thursday, Feb. 24, we ran photos of the TalentFest finalists from Bartlett and Streamwood high schools. Today we're featuring the finalists from Elgin, Larkin and South Elgin high schools.
See more on Facebook at U-46 TalentFest.