Thomas West '14 is currently in his first year at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Recent McCallie graduate Thomas West '14 of Lookout Mountain was named the 2014 winner of The American Prize in Voice — Friedrich & Virginia Schorr Memorial Awards in the high school division. He is currently a first-year student at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Mr. West was selected from applications reviewed this summer from all across the United States. The American Prize is a series of new, non-profit competitions unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings, said officials. The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts.
Over the past two years, Mr. West has taken first prize in many regional and national vocal competitions including the Performing Arts League Vocal Competition in Chattanooga, the Knoxville Choral Society Young Classical Musicians Competition, the University of Kentucky Young Singers Competition, Georgia NATS, and the Music Teachers National Association National Competition. Mr. West was also featured on the NPR radio show “From the Top” both in 2012 and 2014, and was a 2014 National YoungArts Finalist and Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Mr. West is also the founder of ReGenerate, an arts leadership program dedicated to advocating and fundraising for the arts in the public schools of Chattanooga. So far, the group has raised over $14,000 for arts education in his hometown.
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 website, where links will lead to video and audio excerpts of winning performances.