May 21, 2022

By Mike Metheny

The winner of the Metheny Music Foundation’s 2022 “Knight Award” is oboist Emory Thurmond, a senior at Lee’s Summit West High School. Emory plans to attend the University of Kansas as a Music Education major.

“I have decided to pursue a degree in Music Education,” said Emory. “And my current intention is to be a band director. I am very passionate about performing music and impacting audiences through my music. I want to teach others about this passion, and instill a love for music in students.”

The Metheny Music Foundation of Lee’s Summit (MO), a 501(c)(3) created in 2007, introduced its first college music scholarship in 2013 named in honor of William R. and Lorene Metheny Knight. Lorene “Rene” Knight was the aunt of Foundation board members Mike and Pat Metheny and was a 1935 graduate of Lee’s Summit High School. Trumpeter and board chairman Mike Metheny is a 1967 LSHS graduate, and his brother Pat, a winner of 20 Grammy Awards, graduated in 1972.

For more information about the Metheny Music Foundation, go to methenymusicfoundation.org or visit the Foundation’s page on Facebook.