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Add comment October 29th, 2009
The Oct. 15 Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center 125th anniversay fundraising dinner at Franchesco’s Ristorante in Rockford netted the group $46,000.
Coming up soon is Emily Bear, 8, of Rockford performing at 7 p.m. Nov. 19, at the center at 415 N. Church St. Cost is $15. 815-964-9713. She’ll play piano after a screening of the film, “Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037.”
Add comment August 17th, 2009
Emily Bear has played piano as the youngest solo performer at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, a venue known for hosting classy on-the-lawn entertainment for adults.
On Thursday (Aug. 20), the 7-year-old from Rockford will be more at home in terms of her age group when she performs at a Ravinia-presented outdoor concert at a kids’ museum in Glenview: Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago. She’ll play a 45-minute solo.
By the way, Emily turns 8 later this month.
Emily was 6 years old when this photo was taken of her at King Gifted School in Rockford in 2007 reacting to the gym teacher becoming a human sundae. Alan Leon photo for the Register Star.
Add comment June 26th, 2009
Emily Bear, 7, of Rockford told Australian TV viewers Sunday who were watching an evening news show about three international child prodigies including her that she is “just a girl who plays piano” and that she really digs composing music. “It’s something you can do and nobody can tell you what to do or when to do it,” she said.
Go to Emily’s Web site to connect to the “Sunday Night” video of Emily and her family shot earlier this month in Rockford.
(EDDY MONTVILLE | RRSTAR.COM
Emily Bear takes a break Tuesday, June 2, 2009, from playing with the Jodi Beach Trio at Franchesco’s Ristorante in the Sinatra Room in Rockford, where the “Sunday Night” crew was filming.)
Emily’s Mom, Andrea Bear, said the TV segment about her daughter was “a very beautiful, very classy story.” She told me today, though, that while Emily practices four hours a day a few days before a major concert, her daughter’s daily practices can be as short as 15 minutes a day. Emily practices piano an average of two to two-and-a-half hours a day, Andrea said.
3 comments June 11th, 2009
Emily Bear, the charming 7-year-old piano player and composer from Rockford, is adding another television appearance to her resume: On Monday, she’ll play piano on “Good Morning America.”
The ABC show starts at 7 a.m. on WTVO-17 (Comcast 4).
Her mother, Andrea Bear, said show staff learned about Emily through the Internet and invited her to play. It is her first appearance on a national morning news program.
Earlier this month, an Australian crew filmed Emily in Rockford for a segment on child prodigies that will air down under soon on “Sunday Night,” a news magazine show. Emily also has appeared five times on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and has played at the White House.
EDDY MONTVILLE | RRSTAR.COM
Emily Bear takes a break Tuesday, June 2, 2009, from playing with the Jodi Beach Trio at Franchesco’s Ristorante in the Sinatra Room in Rockford as an Australian crew films her.
Add comment June 2nd, 2009
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” gave young piano ace and composer Emily Bear a national audience on her five appearances on the talk show the past two years. Now, the 7-year-old from Rockford is getting exposure in Australia.
A television crew from “Sunday Night,” the Australian TV news magazine equivalent of “20/20″ in the U.S., filmed Emily this week in Rockford for a segment about three international child prodigies that will air in a few weeks.
This afternoon, the crew filmed her playing keyboard with the Jodi Beach Trio at Franchesco’s Ristorante.
(Photo by Eddy Montville, Rockford Register Star. More photos will be posted at rrstar.com/multimedia tonight.)
Yesterday, they were at the Coronado Performing Arts Center. The crew also captured Emily and her family on film at home.
Monique Wright, a “Sunday Night” reporter, said the program discovered Emily through research for a story about prodigies. And when they saw Emily on video, “she was just so captivating,” Wright said.
The other youngsters who’ll be featured on the program: a 2-year-old in London, the youngest person admitted to Mensa International, a group for people with high IQs; and a 6-year-old tennis wiz from Australia who has trained in Florida with the coach of Venus and Serena Williams.
Add comment May 22nd, 2009
While vacationing with family in Minnesota, Miriam Cecilia Carlson of Rockford collected pieces of mica from a mine and decided to use the mineral in making dresses.
Her collection of dresses including some featuring the mineral helped her win third place and $1,000 in at the Eighth Annual Driehaus Awards for Fashion Excellence competition in Chicago on May 18.
Carlson said she flaked off pieces of mica, sealed each with a polymer gloss and drilled little holes to be able to sew through and attached the mica to fabrics she used in her avante guarde Summer Storm collection: Lingering Glimmer, a short dress covered in the mineral; Tumbling Sky, a grey, knee-length dress with the mineral sewn to the waistband; and Wall of the Rain, which contains little pieces of mica sewn around the neckline.
Kacey Hahn models Carlson’s Tumbling Sky dress with mica belt.
Miriam Cecilia Carlson, right, with models wearing dresses in her Summer Storm collection. (Photos provided)
Carlson, who was home-schooled in Rockford in high school, is a 2009 graduate of Dominican University in River Forest and works at Zzazz Productions, assisting with backstage operations in fashion and bridal shows in the Chicago area. She is creating her own line of clothing, ranging from $45 high-waisted, pleated skirts to evening wear topping more than $500. She hopes to have her garments in boutiques this summer.
One of her first clients is Emily Bear, 7, of Rockford, who plays piano and has appeared five times on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and performed at the White House in 2008. Carlson said she will create three dresses for Emily to wear at upcoming performances.
Emily Bear modeling a piece Carlson made for her organic children’s clothing line called Simple Treasures.
“My desire to find meaning in life inspires not only the designs of my garments, but the process of construction,” Carlson said in an e-mail. “The development of each piece I create is a journey, where I allow the fabric to respond organically to my manipulation.”
Contact Carlson at miriamceciliacarlson@gmail.com.
Add comment April 30th, 2009
Pianist Emily Bear, appearing about 10 minutes ago on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” for the fifth time in a year and a half, surprised DeGeneres on her 999th episode.
DeGeneres told the audience that every time Emily, 7, of Rockford, appears on the show, she plays a new piano piece she’s written for DeGeneres. But Emily, wearing a long white dress that she performed in at the White House last year, smiled and quickly, but politely, corrected DeGeneres. “This time it’s not for you,” Emily said. “It’s for the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.” She entitled the piece, “Tomorrow’s Wishes.”
After playing the dreamy-sounding, classical number for a minute or two, DeGeneres told Emily, “You’re amazing. Again, amazing.”
Add comment April 27th, 2009
 Emily Bear, the 7-year-old pianist from Rockford who writes her own compositions, on Thursday, April 30, will appear on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” for the fifth time in a year an a half.
Emily’s appearance is part of the 999th “Ellen” show. In DeGeneres’ “Weekly Newsletter,” DeGeneres writes: “Every once in a while, a young kid comes along who is so talented that I am absolutely blown away. Emily is one of them. Her piano skills are unbelievable. And the most impressive part is that she’s just 7 years old!”
(Emily Bear, 7, gives her final bow after she debuted with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, March 28, 2009, at the Coronado Performing Arts Center in Rockford. Rockford Register Star photo by Katy Mull.)
The “Ellen” show airs at 3 p.m. on WIFR-23 (Comcast 5). For more information, go to emilybear.com.
1 comment March 9th, 2009
Rockford’s piano pixie Emily Bear , 7, dazzled 1,100 guests at a black-tie benefit Saturday for Chicago-based Resurrection Health Care, the city’s largest Catholic health care organization.
photo by Allen Bourgeois for Resurrection Health Care)
Missed it? Well, you can catch Emily in Rockford at her orchestral debut with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra on March 28 at the Coronado Performing Arts Center.
Add comment November 18th, 2008
Is it “Groundhog Day” again?
No, it just seems that Emily Bear, Rockford’s pint-sized piano prodigy, is redoing what she did a year ago around Thanksgiving time in a high-profile, Bill Murray kind of way.
First, Bear’s fourth appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” aired Monday. 
Bear’s second appearance was last November.
This time around, the 7-year-old talked about having a broken nose last summer and played a classical number she wrote to celebrate DeGeneres’ wedding, “Once Upon a Wish.” The song is one of 26 Emily has penned. Ellen told Emily: “You are a special, special girl. I love you. I do.” And so does everyone else, judging by the comments on the TV show’s Web site.
Emily also will have another role in this year’s McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade, the 75th annual, on State Street in Chicago.
Emily and Ronald McDonald will crank a large key to start an ice-skating princess inside the McCafe Wonderland Snow Globe. Her piece, “Christmas Bells,” will play as that parade entry winds through the route. Another piece she wrote, “Giving,” will play with another unit, the Ronald McDonald House Charities Care Mobile entry. Emily’s pieces will be heard by parade spectators who hear her crank the key, along with 1.5 million TV viewers, Julie Sestan, a spokeswoman for the parade said in an e-mail.
What’s Emily think about that? “I love it,” she said. “It makes me feel good. I like to touch people (with my music).”
Last year, Emily prerecorded and composed the parade’s opening number, “Waterlights.”
The parade airs from 8 to 11 a.m. Nov. 27 on WGN (Comcast 18).
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