URBANDALE SINGERS win The American Prize in Choral Performance, 2020, in the high school division

URBANDALE SINGERS, Ted Brimeyer, conductor, of Urbandale, IA, is the winner of The American Prize in Choral Performance, 2020, in the high school choral division. Urbandale Singers was selected from applications reviewed recently from all across the United States. The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation’s most comprehensive series of non-profit competitions in the musical and theater arts, unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings.The covid-extended deadline for applications to The American Prize contests for 2020-21 is Wednesday, September 9, 2020. Details on the website, http://www.theamericanprize.org/

Link to official announcement: http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/2020/07/winners-choruses-2020.html

The organization provided this biographical sketch:

Urbandale Singers is the premier Urbandale High School choir of students who exhibit developed musical skill, are young people of high integrity, and are committed to excellence in choral music. Membership is earned through an audition comprised solo singing, sight-reading, and tonal memory exercises. Work in this choir emphasizes healthy singing technique, musical independence, advanced literacy, and precision with a deliberate emphasis on unaccompanied singing. Students in this ensemble volunteer for frequent performances throughout the community. Urbandale Singers performs a wide variety of choral repertoire in multiple concerts throughout the school year, often sharing concerts with renowned collegiate choirs. Each singer participates in the department’s solo contest. The choir’s success has recently been recognized with invitations to present solo programs for the 2016 North Central Division ACDA Conference, 2017 Iowa Choral Showcase in Pella, 2018 Dorian Vocal Festival at Luther College, and the 2019 American Choral Directors Association Conference.

Additional information about the competitions on the website:www.theamericanprize.org

For runners-up in this division and additional winners already announced in 2019-20 in other competitions, please follow this link:
http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/

Winners of The American Prize receive cash prizes, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition based on recorded performances. In addition to monetary rewards and written evaluations from judges, winners are profiled on The American Prize websites, where links will lead to video and audio excerpts of artist performances. The 2020-21 covid-extended deadline for applications to The American Prize contests is Wednesday, September 9, 2020. Details on the website.

THE AMERICAN PRIZE—History & Judges

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts grew from the belief that a great deal of excellent music being made in this country goes unrecognized and unheralded, not only in our major cities, but all across the country: in schools and churches, in colleges and universities, and by community and professional musicians.

With the performing arts in America marginalized like never before, The American Prize seeks to fill the gap that leaves excellent artists and ensembles struggling for visibility and viability. The American Prize recognizes and rewards the best America produces, without bias against small city versus large, or unknown artist versus well-known.

David Katz is the chief judge of The American Prize. Professional conductor, award-winning composer, playwright, actor and arts advocate, he is author of MUSE of FIRE, the acclaimed one-man play about the art of conducting. Joining Katz in selecting winners of The American Prize is a panel of judges as varied in background and experience as we hope the winners of The American Prize will be. Made up of distinguished musicians representing virtually every region of the country, the group includes professional vocalists, conductors, composers and pianists, tenured professors, and orchestra, band and choral musicians.

“Most artists may never win a Grammy award, or a Pulitzer, or a Tony, or perhaps even be nominated,” Katz said, “but that does not mean that they are not worthy of recognition and reward. Quality in the arts is not limited to a city on each coast, or to the familiar names, or only to graduates of a few schools. It is on view all over the United States, if you take the time to look for it. The American Prize exists to encourage and herald that excellence.”

By shining a light on nationally recognized achievement, winners of The American Prize receive world-class bragging rights to use in promotion right at home. “If The American Prize helps build careers, or contributes to local pride, or assists with increasing the audience for an artist or ensemble, builds the donor base, or stimulates opportunities or recruitment for winning artists and ensembles, then we have fulfilled our mission,” Katz said.

The American Prize is administered by Hat City Music Theater, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit performing arts organization based in Danbury, Connecticut.

To receive “On TAP,” the free e-newsletter of The American Prize, please sign up using this link: Newsletter Sign-up We never share email addresses with anyone, and you can opt out at any time.

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