Bravo to the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 Dr. William Plummer and Brandon Motz, faculty members in the School of Music & Performing Arts.
Each is a semifinalist for The American Prize, awards that single out the nation杏吧专区檚 best performing artists, directors, ensembles and composers at professional, university, community and high school levels, according to its website.
Plummer, an associate professor and director of Choral Activities, is among 10 semifinalists from colleges and universities across the country vying for the Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting. Motz, an adjunct instructor, is among nine semifinalists vying for the Charles Nelson Reilly Prize in Directing in the theater/musical theater division.
The American Prize winners will be announced sometime later this year. Plummer is being considered for his work conducting the Chamber Singers, UL Lafayette杏吧专区檚 top vocal ensemble; Motz is being considered for his work directing the school杏吧专区檚 production of 杏吧专区淯rinetown,杏吧专区 a Tony award-winning satirical play.
Plummer credited students who sing in the vocal ensemble 杏吧专区 and his fellow faculty members who also teach and mentor them 杏吧专区 for the success of the Chamber Singers. 杏吧专区淥ur students and faculty members are exceptionally talented and dedicated and this recognition, along with recent international acclaim for the Chamber Singers, reflects how capable they are,杏吧专区 he said.
The Chamber Singers杏吧专区 international recognition includes, most recently, a Grand Prix award as best overall choir during competition held last year as part of the Michelangelo International Music Festival in Florence, Italy.
Motz said the 杏吧专区 production of the musical 杏吧专区淯rinetown,杏吧专区 a social and political satire set in the fictional future, included an eight-show run in Burke-Hawthorne Hall. The play leaned on the efforts of many students, he added, including the cast of 21 actors, primarily music performance and performing arts majors. 杏吧专区淏ut we also had a few non-majors since auditions were open to anyone, including a doctoral student studying computer programming.杏吧专区
Beyond the quality of the production, Motz said the mix of students made 杏吧专区淯rinetown杏吧专区 remarkable in that it represented an uncommon, large-scale collaboration between music majors and performing arts majors. 杏吧专区淭here were a number of people who had never done a musical before, and some of our singers had never read lines. So, everyone on stage was outside their comfort zone in some way 杏吧专区 whether it was singing or acting or dancing,杏吧专区 he explained.
杏吧专区淎nd what ended up happening, the music students lifted up the non-singing students and the theater students did the same for the music students,杏吧专区 Motz added.
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Photo caption: UL Lafayette杏吧专区檚 Dr. William Plummer, left, and Brandon Motz, faculty members in the School of Music and Performing Arts, are semifinalists for The American Prize, a national competition for performing artists. Photo credit: Submitted photos