Seven Lakes HS Symphony Orchestra, Desiree Overree, director, is the winner of The American Prize in Orchestral Performance, 2024 in the high school division. The ensemble 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 contests in the performing arts. The American Prize is unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, directors, ensembles and composers in the United States at professional, college/university, community and high school levels, based on submitted recordings. Now in its fourteenth year, The American Prize was founded in 2010 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts. Thousands of artists from all fifty states have derived benefit from their participation in the contests of The American Prize, representing literally hundreds of communities and arts organizations across the nation. (http://theamericanprize.org)
Link to official announcement: http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/2024/11/national-winners-orchestras-2024.html?view=flipcard
The winning artists provided this biographical sketch:
The Seven Lakes Symphony Orchestra is comprised of the top two string ensembles and the top band at Seven Lakes High School. In its 18-year history, the ensemble has earned numerous awards and accolades at the regional, state, and national level, including being a National Winner in the Mark of Excellence / National Honors Project since 2015, winning the American Prize in Music in 2018 and 2021, and being named the state champion full orchestra for Texas Music Educators Association in 2016 and 2020. Seven Lakes HS was acknowledged by the GRAMMY Foundation in 2010-2011 as a GRAMMY Signature School. Our Fine Arts Department is built on the tenets of collaboration and excellence, bringing innovative performances to our community. The Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Desiree Overree, John Mays, and Sean Carlton.
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Additional information about the competitions on the website: www.theamericanprize.org
For runners-up in this category and for additional winners already announced in 2024 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 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.
“Many 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.
