Window on the West
by Mary Rupert
In the past few years, the Sumner Academy Symphonic Orchestra took top honors in Heritage Music Festivals and was invited to the prestigious WorldStrides Heritage Performance Festival of Gold competition.
Only a select few outstanding groups were invited to the competition. The Sumner Academy orchestra turned down the opportunity to attend the Festival of Gold for a few years, but this year, accepted it.
The challenge now for the orchestra is to raise funds for the 40 student members to attend the Festival of Gold competition in Nashville, Tenn.
Michelle Sweeten, orchestra director at Sumner Academy, said students have been holding fundraisers all year, selling products to raise funds and accepting donations. However, with a cost of $810 per student for the March 31-April 4 trip, there is still a lot of money that has to be raised, she said. Only four students have been able to pay for their trip in full, so far. The group is trying to raise the funds by the first week of February, she added.
The Sumner Academy orchestra performs classical contemporary music at the festival, at a difficult level, she said.
“The group plays with a lot of passion and emotion,” she said.
Sweeten said at the Heritage Festival last year, the Sumner Academy orchestra won the top prize, playing a Richard Meyer piece, “Of Glorious Plumage,” and a Brahms serenade. Sumner Academy received a gold first place award, and the outstanding orchestra award, as well as an award for the school with the top score at the entire event, including the choir as well as orchestra.
At the Festival of Gold, the students will get to work with a renowned clinician, and will work with a choir, she said. The students will get to perform in a Nashville symphony hall, she added.
Sweeten said going to the Festival of Gold would help students continue building their technique, skill level and musicality, especially when they work with the clinician on their music. The students will learn different skills from the conductor and clinician, and will be able to apply it to their music, she said.
While in Nashville, the students also are scheduled to visit a college.
“It builds them educationally, academically and musically,” she said about the orchestra trip.
Some of the Sumner Academy orchestra students in the past have gone on to careers in music, including music education and music therapy, she said.
The orchestra is reaching out to the community to ask for donations for the trip. Recently, the Kansas City, Kan., West Kiwanis Club contributed $500 toward the effort, she said.
Those who would like to participate in the fundraiser or to make a tax-deductible donation to the Festival of Gold trip may contact Sumner Academy at 913-627-7238 or send a check to “Sumner Academy” with a memo that it is for the orchestra’s Nashville trip, to Sumner Academy, 1610 N. 8th St., Kansas City, Kan. 66101.
To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].