Anxious teachers, nervous parents, and excited students filled the halls of the Brooklyn Marriott on May 25-26 for the final rounds of Classical Singer magazine’s fourth annual High School Competition.
More than 200 high school vocal students from the United States and Canada participated in the second round of the competition. They were selected from a pool of more than 600 students who competed at local universities in the First Round.
After receiving invaluable feedback from the university faculty judges, these students came to New York City with the goal of advancing to the Final Round Concert to perform in front of hundreds of their peers and vie for prestigious scholarships and cash prizes.
Only 33 students advanced to the Semifinal Round, and only the top 10 singers advanced to the Final Round Concert. These elite singers did not disappoint. Soprano Kirsten MacKinnon of Vancouver, British Columbia, inspired the audience of more than 350 with “O luce di quest’anima” from Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix. With her performance Kirsten won the $2,000 First Place prize. She will be studying at the Curtis Institute of Music in the fall of ’08.
The other nine national finalists of the Competition were stellar in their own right as they combined to collect more than $4,000 in cash prizes and more than $1.7 million in scholarship offers to the Eastman School of Music, the Boston Conservatory, Arizona State University, Brigham Young University, Chapman University, DePauw University, Mannes College, Lawrence University, North Park University, Shorter College, Tulane University, University of Houston, and William Jewell College.
Schools awarded scholarships throughout the competition process, sometimes selecting singers they heard at the regional competition for an award. At the final awards ceremony, several schools gave scholarships to singers they heard in the Semifinal Round who didn’t advance to the Final Round. Zac Garcia from Lafayette, Colo., for example, was not one of the 10 finalists, but received a full tuition scholarship from DePauw University and a $10,000 tuition scholarship renewable each year from the Boston Conservatory.
Besides singing in the competition and receiving written feedback from each judge, students were also able to participate in the College Expo recruiting fair and masterclasses. More than 50 vocal programs were represented at the recruiting event, including the Juilliard School, the Eastman School of Music, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. These schools presented masterclasses for the students. All of this combined to create an unforgettable vocal experience.
“We enjoyed every moment together. The experience, opportunities, and memories are priceless,” said Annette DiStefano, parent of participant Danielle DiStefano. “We loved spending so much time with like minds, people who love this art as much as we do, and the impact of the masterclasses and lectures makes us wish next year’s event were tomorrow!”
Registration for the 2009 High School Vocal Competition opens Sept. 1. The First Round will be held at universities between Nov. 1 and March 14; the final rounds will be at the Classical Singer Convention in Chicago in May 2009. Students can register online at www.ClassicalSinger.com/convention/hscomp or by calling the Classical Singer office at 877-515-9800.
