The little town of Stettler has made a big mark at this year’s Heritage Music Festival in New York, winning the gold medal in women’s choir category and the bronze medal in the open category competition with its 86-member band.
Rhonda Sylvester of Gracenotes Choir, the winners of the gold medal, said they were overwhelmed when it was announced they were the winners of one of two gold medals at the festival.
“We were privileged to be there in the first place. There were many choirs and hundreds and hundreds of kids,” Sylvester said.
“When they announced the award, there was a big cheer and then they announced another award for us, so it was really overwhelming.”
The second award Sylvester mentioned went to soprano Andrea Benoit when she was accorded the Maestro title by three adjudicators for her outstanding performance.
Gracenotes Choir also received invitations to Carnegie Hall’s national Youth Choir festivals both in 2011 and 2012.
Another invitation was also extended to the Gracenotes Choir for the Festival of Gold’s National Invitational Choral Festival, which is held annually at the finest concert halls in north America.
But success was not limited to the choral competition.
Wm. E Hay band, under the direction of Eric Rahn, won the bronze medal in the open category competition of the festival.
“This was the youngest group I have traveled with on average, so it was a great experience for them,” said Rahn, who also directed the Wm. E. Hay band in 2006, the year they won a gold medal in the Heritage Music Festival held in San Francisco that year.
The band performed “Meeting in Tryon Palace”, the Spanish March and a three-movement piece called Gemini to win their medal.
He said he was thrilled to hear a comment from one of the US adjudicators, Carl Strommen, describing the Stettler group as a “big young band with big music.”
Gracenotes Choir and the Wm. E Hay band also together won the Spirit Award.
than a thousand students from all over north America taking part in this festival and we, the Stettler group, made up more than 10 percent of them in terms of numbers,” said Rahn.
“We are so proud of our kids, because of how they behaved on and off the stage and how they represented themselves and our community.”
Both Sylvester and Rahn said they were grateful to their sponsors and the community for their support that enabled them to participate in the festival.
