Sanderson High Sandpipers Earn Triangle Youth Chorus Trophy
April 7, 2005 - Chorus students in Marshall Butler's class at Sanderson High School got a surprise today when they were presented the 2005 Triangle Youth Chorus Trophy.Sanderson's chorus, the "Sandpipers," which Butler directs, has won a trophy, a $750 cash grant, music scores and recording services totaling approximately $500.
The trophy the Sandpipers received is a metal sculpture of 14 choristers on a wood base with plaques for 30 years of recipients. The award was designed by distinguished NC artist Lyle Estill and commissioned by TriangleSings!, the regional choral website at www.trianglesings.org.
The 49-member Sandpipers is one of three vocal ensembles at Sanderson, where Butler has taught for the past 12 years. The group has long received "Superior" ratings at regional competitions; last fall, they performed by invitation at the NC Music Educators Conference in Winston-Salem. Locally, the group has sung for Wake County's "Pieces of Gold," for neighborhood elementary schools, and for Governor Easley and members of the NC Senate at the Governor's Mansion. In recent years, the chorus has traveled to appear at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC; St. John's the Divine and St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City; and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Orlando. In June 2001, the Sandpipers provided music for a mass in St. Paul's Basilica in the Vatican and gave concerts in four Italian cities.
The winning choruses were selected by an Advisory Board of educators, conductors, reviewers, radio hosts, singers and choral enthusiasts. The members are: Lance Buhl, Buhl & Associates; Beverley Francis, Triangle Community Foundation; Ken Hoover, WCPE "Great Sacred Music"; John Lambert, Classical Voice of North Carolina; Lisa McIver, Brightleaf Music Workshop; Fran Page, Capital City Girls Choir/Meredith College; Carol Robbins, TriangleSings!/Youth Pro Musica Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation; Al Sturgis, North Carolina Master Chorale/Carolina Ballet. Since the previous year's winning director joins the panel to help decide the next recipient, the Advisory Board also included Scott Hill, now director of the Durham Children's Choir.
The 2005 competition was sponsored by Hinshaw Music Company, TriangleSings!, Walton Music Corporation, Sally K. Albrecht and Jay Althouse, Burrage Music Company, Alice and Lance Buhl, and the Youth Pro Musica Fund. The $750 grant is to be used at Mr. Butler's discretion to benefit the Sandpipers or Sanderson vocal music department. In addition, Chapel Hill-based Hinshaw Music also is providing a $300 credit to the winning school for the purchase of music for one year; recording engineer and photographer Mark Manring and VoChor, Inc., are each donating a professional recording and edited master for the runner-up ensemble as well as winning choir.
The annual competition is open to public high school and middle school choirs with at least 25 singers in Wake, Durham, Orange and Chatham counties. Selection is based on musical excellence and other accomplishments, including the impact the choruses have on their members and the community.
The second-place finisher in this year's competition is the Enloe High School Chamber Choir, directed by Ann L. Huff. Enloe receives a runner-up award and professional recording services.
The Sanderson Sandpipers, the Enloe Chamber Choir and two other outstanding Wake County applicants - Middle Creek High School Choral Ensemble, directed by Michael Gilliam, and Southeast Raleigh High School "Select" Chorus, directed by Elsie Norton - will be featured in a segment of "Great Sacred Music" on WCPE-FM this month
For further information, contact Carol Robbins 919-545-0343 or youthpromusica@aol.com; or Marshall Butler at 881-4838.
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