NHS Senior Wins $1,000 Award—

Connecticut Choral Society Kannengeiser Scholarship

Winners Announced

Thirteen area high school students participated in Connecticut Choral Society’s annual Kannengeiser Scholarship auditions on March 31 at South Britain Congregational Church Parish Hall, and the winners have been announced by CCS organizers.

Seniors Grant Skinner from Newtown High School and Anya Watson from Joel Barlow High in Redding were each named as winners of $1,000 scholarships. Alisha Saxon from Kennedy High School in Waterbury was named as a special judges’ award winner of $500, to be used for vocal lessons.

The awards will be presented to their respective winners on May 6 at the Kannengeiser Scholarship Fundraiser at North Congregational Church in Woodbury. The event will include a concert and all will be open to the publci.

The CCS fundraising benefit concert on Sunday, May 6, beginning at 2:30 pm, is being jointly sponsored by Woodbury Friends of the Library and Connecticut Choral Society in memory of Joel Kannengeiser, a member of both organizations.  Scholarship winners, members of Connecticut Choral Society’s Chamber Singer group, and Pamela Hoffman, a noted soprano from Brookfield, will also participate in the program. 

Judges for the 2001 scholarship auditions were local vocal artists and voice teachers. This year’s panel included Ms Hoffman, along with Daniel Narducci and Heather Narducci, both of Middlebury. 

The fourth annual Kannengeiser scholarship award was given to encourage and promote young people who are singing in choruses in the greater Waterbury and Danbury areas. Public and private schools were invited to participate. Scholarships are funded through contributions to the Kannengeiser Scholarship Fund of Connecticut Choral Society

In November 2000, choral directors from 25 high schools were asked to nominate qualified junior and senior class singers to participate in the scholarship auditions.