On April 29, the Camden Hills Regional High School choirs, under the direction of Kimberly Murphy and the CHRHS bands, under the direction of Nancy Rowe, attended the Heritage Music Festival in New York City. All five of the Camden Hills ensembles — Chorale, Chamber Singers, Women's Choir, Band and Jazz Band — earned gold awards, meaning that their combined score from all three judges landed in the 90-100 percentile of all schools in that class across the country.
In addition to the gold awards, the ensembles earned the following:
Women's Choir – third place
Chorale – second place
Choral Sweepstakes – highest combined vocal scores at the festival
Jazz Band – first place, Adjudicator Award (score of 92 or higher)
Concert Band – Adjudicator Award, Outstanding Band Group (highest scoring band at the festival)
Instrumental Sweepstakes – highest combined instrumental scores at the festival
Senior Nick LeClerc earned a "Maestro" award for his alto sax. solo and improvisational work with the Jazz Band
Finally, Camden Hills Regional High School earned the Festival Sweepstakes Award, which is awarded to the school that accumulated the highest number of points towards a perfect score of 300 points. Both directors also received written and taped comments from all adjudicators.
During the festival, the ensembles were judged by nationally known adjudicators as follows:
Band/Jazz Band
Jeff Campbell – Director of Jazz Studies, Eastman School of Music
Mike Carubia – composer and arranger, St. Joseph's College
Carl Strommen – composer and arranger, Long Island University
Choirs
Susan Avery – Professor of Music Ed., Ithaca College
Jose Calvar – Composer and Professor of Music, Syracuse University
E. Wayne Abercrombie – Director of Choral Activities, UMass-Amherst
Schools participating in the festival included ensembles from Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Washington, D.C., Florida, Canada, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
At the festival, schools are divided into classes based upon school enrollment.
Ensembles are rated on a national standard based upon the results of all Heritage Festivals across the country.
In addition to attending the music festival, students also were able to see the Broadway shows Wicked and School of Rock, take an evening dinner cruise/dance in New York Harbor and enjoy a thunderous adventure at Six Flags New England on the return trip. Directors and students would like to thank the five-town community and our chaperones for making this trip possible.
The students included:
Thomas Akselsen
Colby Arau
Gideon Baeza
Macy Barnhart
Anthony Benson
Hope Bifulcom
Tyler Bilodeau
Tristan Black
Danila Borodaenko
Emily Bowen
Katherine Bowen
Evie Bracher
Sophia Ernst
Sophia Campbell
Mallory Caron
Robbie Carroll
Tanner Castellano
Danica Cayouette
Ethan Cayouette
Abby Chamberlin
Henry Chamberlin
Karizma Chickering
Anna Christie
Audrey Clement
Sam Conlan
Conrad Crans
Greta Curtis
Alexis Cutliffe
Anna Daggett
Katherine Dailey
Kiara Derrig
Tysen DeWaard
Nick Doran
Tatum Dowd
Piper Dunton
Erica Durkee
Kane Emerson
Sophie Ernst
Kerry Ettinger
Simon Fedarko
Braden Fisher
Ella Fishman
Kylie Fong
Jillian Galloway
Warren Galloway
Peter Galloway
Eric Glaser
Suzannah Gray
Eleanor Greer
Emma Hallundbaek
Cullan Hamilton
Katie Heavey
Noah Heidorn
Ian Henderson
McKenzie Hilt
Joel Hokkanen
Maddie Holt
Grace Iltis
Trevor Iltis
Calvin James
Luke James
Nicholas Johnson
Aaron Jones
Maddison Jordan
Will Karod
Quinn Kelley
Myles Kelley
Kate Kemper
Sydney Kenna-Moore
Courtney King
Isabella LaBranche
Elaine Landry
Philip Lane
Nick LeClerc
Alison Linares
Elle Lincoln
Sydney Lytton
Shannon Mackridge
Alana Mahoney
Sam Maltese
Molly Mann
Miranda Marsh
Wilson McKay
Max McKenna
Bella Merrill
Abby Milner
Jack Nathan
Hannah Nolan
Charlie O'Brien
Simon O'Shea
Isabelle Olson
Andrew Orne
Hope Osgood
Annabel Parker
Joshua Pearse
Brandyn Pease-Frampton
Ella Pierce
Claire Pierce
Esme Power
Macy Pushaw
Lindsey Reilly
Anikka Reinwand
Kara Robak
Eliza Robinson
Bekah Schade
Sara Schaefer
Alexys Schaeffer
Chris Shields
Ryan Shields
Ellie Silverio
Emma Simmons
Haley Simmons
Rhiana Simonton
McKenna Sullivan
Jenna Taylor
Carol Upham
Max Valley
Noah Vix
Robyn Walker-Spencer
Nick Watts
Bradlee Watts
Becca Westbrook
Emma Wilton
Nigel Wilton
Kasey Wood
Emie Wood
Molly Woodruff
Tristan Woodruff
Fran Woodworth
Gabe Wright
Halsey Yattaw