If you tuned in earlier this week for the 2022 Oscars, it may have you thinking about the 64th Grammy Awards, airing on Sun., April 3.
Lakeland will be represented amongst the 2022 nominees, thanks to 2002 Harrison School for the Arts graduate Jonathan Gautier. Jonathan, who owns Sound House Studios (113 S. Florida Ave.) recently shared his Grammy nomination on Facebook.
Jonathan is credited with working on Taylor Swift’s album “Evermore,” nominated for Album of the Year, as well as her preceding album “Folklore.” Other big names associated with the Lakeland studio include Bleachers, Lorde, Clairo, Diana Ross, and Florence and the Machine.
While we’re on the topic of Lakelanders making it big, meet three Lakeland alumni leaving their mark in the arts.
Quentin Earl Darrington | This 1996 graduate and member of Harrison School for the Arts’ Hall of Fame known for “Ragtime” (2009), “Cats” (2016), and “Once on This Island” (2017) is making headlines again. Quentin is now taking the stage in the Broadway show, “MJ: The Musical” and playing both the role of Michael Jackson’s father and Rob Goldstone, the manager of Michael’s 1992 “Dangerous” tour.
Mark Thielen | Mark, the Music Director and Conductor for the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra (LSO), (formerly the Imperial Symphony Orchestra), was inducted into Harrison School for the Arts’ Hall of Fame in 2021 for his impact on Polk County’s arts community. Prior to the LSO, Mark conducted the Harrison Symphony Orchestra until 2005. The honoree has been a member of the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra for 46 years.
Yurel Echezarreta | Another graduate of Harrison School for the Arts, Yurel just lived our dreams at the 2022 Oscars thanks to his part of Sebas in “West Side Story.” Keep your eyes out for him in his next work, “The Valet,” to be released this summer.
Curious about more famous alumni? Meet them here.