Performers compete for grand prize in Montana’s Got Talent

The competition has been narrowed for the premiere of Montana’s Got Talent with 15 contestants competing for a chance to win $5,000 Saturday.  

Contestants will showcase a variety of talents at a chance to win $5,000. There will be dancers, aerialists, bands, comedians, singers/songwriters and people who were chosen by musician Blake Shelton for NBC’s hit show “The Voice.”  

The artists’ whose video auditions stood out among 80 submissions are: Beau Akimbo of Missoula, Mandy May Blest of Anaconda, Max Brayley of Whitefish, Mindy Cochran and Mariah Gladstone of Kalispell and Babb, Cash Dean of Lakeside, Fusion by Dance Elements from Kalispell, Wyatt Johnson of Helena, Drew Landry of Browning, Joe Martinez of Woods Bay, Cash Muretta of Great Falls, Off in the Woods of Polson, Desiree Roberson of Kalispell, Amanda Stewart of Bozeman, Benny Weag of Polson and Emma Zeider of Bigfork.  

The grand prize winner will also receive a demo from Beargrass Recording Studio, a chance to open for a Major Act at Abayance Bay Concert venue and two tickets to the Under the Big Sky music festival.  

The night’s star-studded judges feature singer and songwriter Hilary Williams, granddaughter of Hank Williams; Dustin Brayley, a member of the multi-platinum Trans-Siberian Orchestra; Montana Hall of Fame musician Rob Quist; Meredith Patterson, a Broadway performer; Clif Loftin, a leading event and tour producer and Flathead Valley music legend John Dunnigan.  

Fans will have a chance to vote for their favorite artist to win the People’s Choice Award at www.montanasgottalent.com/finalists with a donation to benefit Starlight Academy.   

Starlight Academy is an online learning center for people looking to get into the entertainment industry by covering topics such as auditions and promotion with musical training and performance critiques. The academy’s next goal is to provide online music classes for rural schools in Montana that cannot afford music teachers.   

Starlight Academy is the brainchildren of Montana’s Got Talent founder and CEO Halladay Quist. Quist has taught music in rural schools and is developing a program to provide a musical curriculum for all small schools in Montana.  

Quist, who was raised in Creston, has performed in Europe, Los Angeles, Seattle, Nashville and Austin and was voted Best Local Musician in the Daily Inter Lake’s Best of the Flathead contest. As the daughter of a musician, she grew up in an environment of songwriting, performance and touring.   

“I grew up believing in the power and magic of music because I saw music change people’s lives, taking people away from their challenges to a place of joy and laughter and dance," she said. “Music and dance connect us in ways that nothing else does. I look forward to the opportunity to take music and music education to new levels with a professional platform to make music education and promotion universal.”  

Montana’s Got Talent kicks off at 7 p.m. at the Wachholz College Center on the campus of Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell.   

Tickets range in price from $33 to $46.20 for adults and $25 students/youths, which includes service fees. Tickets may be purchased online at www.wccmt.org or by calling 756-1400. 

    Hallady Quist is the founder and CEO of Montana's Got Talent and creator of the online Starlight Academy. (Photo provided)