Clark College Orchestra wins community music prize

The Clark College Orchestra has won third place nationally in the community orchestra division of The American Prize competition for 2013. The American Prize, founded in 2009, is a group of competitions designed to raise the profile of the great performing arts being done in low-profile places — like college, churches and schools — by nonprofessional musicians. The judging is done based entirely on submitted recordings, and one judge wrote that the Clark College Orchestra “really shines on the Fandango to the end: effective clean strings, great balance, wonderful dynamic contrasts, technique and articulation.” Donald Appert, the music director and conductor of the Clark College Orchestra since 1990, also received an American Prize for orchestral programming in 2012; you can check out his work at maestroappert.com.