Camden Hills high school musicians, singers bring home the gold from New York City

Mon, 05/01/2017 - 1:00pm

    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