In September, The Foundation for Music Education announced its 2023 winners of its Mark of Excellence Awards. Summer Creek High School Chamber Orchestra was one of six high school string orchestras in the nation selected for the National Orchestra Honors.
“To see Summer Creek listed with programs I've followed for many, many years is very special,” Summer Creek Orchestra Director David Irish said. “I co-teach with my wife and sometimes we have to sit back and look at the great work our kids are doing, the musical sounds they are sharing with others, and the community these kids have with each other.”
Submissions are taken from wind band, orchestra, choral, jazz and percussion groups from around the United States. This year, 443 entries were made of recordings from groups at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
The process includes applying, submitting two live recordings from the school year, and two judging rounds by different people. The Summer Creek High School Chamber Orchestra submitted their live performance of Paul Hindemith's "Funf Stucke" and Percy Grainger's "Irish Tune from County Derry", taken from the Music for All National Festival.
“It takes a village to have a great high school music group and this honor means that we are seeing success at all levels in our program while having fantastic support from our administration at the school and district levels,” Irish said. “For us, it's been a surreal last couple of years in this orchestra program.”
The winners get national recognition in most scholastic music publications, one of their selections is put on a "Winners CD" and shared with all entries and is also available for purchase, and a banner for the orchestra room.
This is the 17th year of the Mark of Excellence project. In the history of the project, 40 different states have been represented. The program seeks to recognize and award outstanding achievement in performance by high school and middle school bands, choirs and orchestras.
The top 25% of entrants are recognized as National Winners, with the second 25% named as Commended Winners.
