VTHS singer wins state honors

VERNON - Emilie Peterson, a junior at Vernon Township High School, has won two distinctions at the state level for her singing. She has been chosen to receive one of four Governor's Awards in Vocal Music for 2004 and has been accepted to the 2004 New Jersey Governor's School in Vocal Music. The Governor's Awards in the Arts will be presented in a ceremony on May 26 at the College of New Jersey's Kendall Hall. This award is sponsored by the New Jersey Music Educators Association in collaboration with the New Jersey State Department of Education. Peterson became one of eight finalists by receiving the best score of all Alto II singers in the 2003 New Jersey All-State Choir auditions, an accomplishment she repeated in the 2004 All-State auditions. More than 1,000 students audition for the New Jersey All-State Chorus every year. Final selection to receive a Governor's Award in Vocal Music is based on an additional vocal audition, an essay submission, and a letter of recommendation from the respective high school choral director. In addition, the Vernon singer has been accepted to the 2004 New Jersey Governor's School in Vocal Music. She will attend this intensive and highly selective program at the College of New Jersey from July 4-July 31. Each candidate for the Governor' School submitted an audition tape. Finalists were then selected and sang a final live audition in March. Sixteen choral student musicians were selected statewide to participate. Peterson has been active in the VTHS choral program for the past three years where she participates in Symphonic Choir, Les Chanteuses, and Close Harmony conducted by Max Taylor. She also sings in the select choral ensemble, Meistersingers, directed by Richard Zweier, from whom she takes voice lessons in his home-based private music studio. Zweier said, "Emilie is a natural. She has a beautiful tonal quality and sings with great passion and artistic understanding." Peterson is the daughter of Robert and Mary Peterson.