Ithaca College

This past May, two faculty members—Jeffery Meyer, director of orchestras, and Brian DeMaris, director of opera and musical theater—helped IC earn five placements in The American Prize annual competition for several campus music and arts programs.

A series of new, non-profit national competitions in the performing arts, The American Prize provides cash awards, professional adjudication and regional, national, and international recognition to musicians. Each year, The American Prize rewards the best-recorded performances by individual artists and ensembles in the United States at the professional, community/amateur, college, university, church, and school levels.

Meyer, a semifinalist himself in Orchestra Conducting on the college/university orchestra level, helped the Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra (ICSO) earn two semifinalist placements for Orchestral Performance and Orchestral Programming.

In a collaboration between the School of Music and the Deparment of Theatre Arts, IC Opera (accompanied by the IC Chamber Orchestra (ICCO) under DeMaris' leadership) achieved a semifinalist status in the college/university Opera Division for its production of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi last semester. DeMaris also picked up an individual semi-finalist status for Opera Conducting.

In addition, (ICCO) was also a semifinalist for Orchestral Programming, putting the ensemble in the running to win the Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award— which recognizes and rewards the best achievement in the unique field of orchestral programming.

Congratulations to Jeff, Brian and their students for an incredible representation at this awards ceremony!