On Saturday, April 5, 2008, the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing sponsored its regional auditions at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. Top student singers from Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C., advanced from their state-level auditions for a day of vocal competition. The following BJU students distinguished themselves in the competition:
Sophomore Men—Mark Crosby, winner; Jason Rush, third place
Junior Men—Ye Young (Daniel) Lee,
winner; Timothy Renner, third place
Senior Men—Joseph Hoelscher, winner
Graduate
Men—Troy Castle, third place
Graduate student Jess Turner’s Christmas choral setting, All the Night, won first place in the
John Ness Beck Foundation’s choral composition contest (unpublished category). The foundation sponsors the annual
contest to promote the writing of traditional sacred music. Turner’s piece for band, Through the Looking Glass, was
premiered by the BJU Symphonic Wind Band at this year’s Commencement Concert. His band transcription of Dan
Forrest’s The King of Love My Shepherd Is was recorded by the Concordia University Band as part of the nationally
acclaimed series of sacred wind arrangements. This fall Jess began graduate work in composition at the Hartt School
of Music in Hartford, Conn.
Freshman Dale Forsythe received the 2nd-place award for his composition, Prologue and Scherzo, in the high school division of the MTNA national composition contest.
Freshman Daniel Overly was one of twenty pianists selected to participate in the Southeastern Piano Workshop held in Columbia, S.C. Clinicians included notable pianists Olga Kern and Donald Humphries.