The North Hills High School Wind Ensemble has won the 2021 American Prize for band performance in the high school division.
North Hills, one of just six finalists from five schools, was selected from applications from all across the country.
The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts.
It is the nation's most comprehensive series of contests in the classical arts. It’s unique in scope and structure and designed to evaluate, recognize and reward the best performers, ensembles, composers and administrators in the United States, based on submitted recordings.
About the North Hills Wind Ensemble
The North Hills Wind Ensemble has been featured at conventions around the country including the Midwest Convention, the Concert Band National Convention, the MENC/NAfME All-Eastern Convention, and the PMEA State Convention. The bands were awarded the Sudler Flag of Honor from the John Philip Sousa Foundation as part of the inaugural group in 1983. Guests have included William Revelli, Arthur Fieldler, Arnald Gabriel, Vaclav Nelhybel, Alfred Reed, Stephen Gage, Fred Allen, Allen Vizzutti, Urbie Green, Fred Hemke, Louis Bellison, Timothy Mahr, Tim Lautzenheiser, Stephen Peterson, Peter Boonshaft, among many others.
The North Hills High School Bands have maintained an annual commission series since 1965. The series has resulted in nearly 60 original works for band. Works from the series have been recorded by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra with Frederick Fennel conducting, D.C. service bands, the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, and college ensembles throughout the country. They have also been featured in the series, Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.
About the American Prize
Winners of The American Prize receive cash prizes, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition based on recorded performances. In addition to monetary rewards and written evaluations from judges, winners are profiled on The American Prize websites, where links will lead to video and audio excerpts of artist performances. The American Prize recognizes and rewards the best America produces, without bias against small city versus large, or unknown artist versus well-known.
Complete information is available at www.theamericanprize.org.