The Scarsdale High School Choir has recently placed as semi-finalists in The American Prize in Choral Performance. The award considered a short clip of “In Paradisum” from Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem,” a memorable collaboration with a student orchestra from Rome.

The American Prize, from its outset in 2009, has awarded cash prizes to chamber, compositional, and orchestral performances annually. It merits recorded performances on a variety of levels to all U.S. citizens.

John Cuk, SHS Choir conductor, had sent applications to The American Prize for different schools, but this is Scarsdale’s first placing in the national competition. “​I sent away the application last spring and heard nothing. So I assumed we didn’t get very far… I checked again but looked under another category, and was surprised to see we were under that specific category.” Several years ago, the choir participated in the New York State School Music Association Festival (NYSSMA), a music event designed to evaluate music artists by a standardized grading system, and they received gold ratings.

The SHS Choir will display their talent once again on April 17th, featuring works from The Great American Songbook, spirituals, Shakespearean-themed pieces, the West Side Story, folk songs, and a piece by a contemporary American composer. Their repertoire will be directed by conductor John Cuk. They represent Scarsdale’s diverse interests; the choir is a cross-section of the student body, with students from STEAM, government, coding, speech and debate, and more. “I am very happy for the choir. Although they weren’t all in Rome, they all sang and learned that specific piece, which was quite difficult. They deserve a great deal of credit,” remarked Cuk.

You can check out the mixed choir and vocal ensemble performances at Scarsdale TV.

By Juling Wang