Contestants Set for 'Sing and Play '24' Student Music Competition on February 22

SILER CITY, N.C. — Showcase contestants have been selected for “Sing and Play ’24,” the sixth-annual music competition hitting the stage later this month at Jordan-Matthews High School in Siler City.

The showcase concert on February 22 at 6:30 p.m. highlights talented student musicians throughout the area and raises money for JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to provide what student artists need to excel.

General admission is $5 per person and includes one vote in each age-based competition.

Judges Jennifer Benitez, Greg Burriss and Matt Fry selected 15 musical acts during open auditions to perform in separate elementary, middle and high school competitions. Winners will be selected by audience vote and each receives a $50 cash prize.

Elementary contestants are Samuel Antonio Melgar of Virginia Cross Elementary, Evelyn Miranda of Virginia Cross Elementary, Zeilan Smith of Chatham Charter and Ella Stewart in fifth grade at George Moses Horton Middle.

Middle school contestants are Shanita Abetia of George Moses Horton Middle, Ares Adams of Chatham Middle, Brianna L. Balderas of Chatham Middle, Fiona Bebber of Margaret B. Pollard Middle and Josephine Chen of Woods Charter.

The competition will conclude with six high school performances. TavalynRae Gray, Ari Ibarra, Sandra Gisel Lopez, Natalie Morales Zagada, Serena Pietri and the duet of Traycee Wall and Cassidy DeShazo all represent Jordan-Matthews.

This year’s showcase will feature guest performances by Hailey King of George Moses Horton Middle, winner of last year’s middle school competition, and Clara Rojas of Jordan-Matthews, winner of last year’s high school competition.

The concert will be cohosted by Jordan-Matthews actor-musicians Karsyn Vann and Andrey Ureña-Seceña

“We love to see how students grow in confidence through this experience,” said JMArts President Rose Pate, who noted that performers from outside Chatham also were eligible. “And we are delighted to have students that enjoy the experience so much they return to the competition!”

All money raised by the competition will be used by JMArts for educational projects, including its New York Arts Adventure. That annual trip scheduled over spring break gives upperclass musicians, actors and visual artists an opportunity to explore one of the world’s great cities, experience the very best in the arts and gain new perspectives that will influence their lives and work.

More information about “Sing and Play” performers will be published on JMArts social media. Details about JMArts and other events scheduled for this season are online at jmarts.org.

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Hailey King of George Moses Horton Middle won the middle school competition at last year’s event and will return to perform as one of two guest artists at “Sing and Play ’24” on February 22 at Jordan-Matthews High School. The annual competition was created as a performance opportunity for student musicians and a fundraiser for JMArts. (Photo by Chip Pate)

Clara Rojas of Jordan-Matthews High School won the high school competition at last year’s event and will return to perform as a guest artist at “Sing and Play ’24.” The benefit concert on February 22 will be cohosted by Jordan-Matthews High School actor-musicians Karsyn Vann and Andrey Ureña-Seceña. (Photo by Chip Pate)

Sing and Play logo

Opportunity Expands for JM Music Students Thanks to Grant From New Horizons Band

SILER CITY, N.C. — Music students at Jordan-Matthews High School have new instruments to play and more opportunity to learn thanks to a contribution from New Horizons Band and Chorus of the Triangle, a local nonprofit group of adult musicians who have decided to disband after challenges reorganizing from the pandemic shutdowns.

“We were so sorry to hear about their decision to disband, but we’re grateful that their musical legacy will live on in the lives of so many high school musicians who now have opportunities they would never have enjoyed before,” said Rose Pate, president of JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, that accepted the contribution on behalf of the school. “We already have students ready to make the most of this generous gift.”

Valued at more than $30,000, the contribution from the band and members Betty and John King includes seven musical instruments, sheet music, a portable sound system and a $4,000 cash donation for the school’s band and choral music programs.

Pate said that many students would like to learn to play, but are not in a position to purchase or rent instruments. This gives them an opportunity they would not have had before. “One of our students has said for a long time that she wanted to learn the French Horn, but that was not even possible until we received this contribution, which includes a professional horn with a detachable bell. What a difference this will make for all of our musicians.”

Sara Bird, the New Horizons Band treasurer, was happy that the donation was so needed. “The Kings and I have fond memories of playing in high school band and singing in the chorus,” she said. “These were important lifetime skills that have provided equally enjoyable years after retirement. We hoped our donation would provide these same opportunities to young students.”

Jordan-Matthews Band Director Aaron Partin said he was amazed when he learned about the donation. “When I saw all of the items on the donation list, I was speechless,” he said. “These are concert-quality instruments that will be essential, amazing assets for our band program.”

And chorus teacher Allison Blaylock agreed with what it means for music students, saying that the high-quality, portable sound system and microphones will give vocalists more options to perform, especially in remote venues.

JMArts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing opportunity for Jordan-Matthews student actors, dancers, musicians and visual artists. Their most prominent initiative is the JMArts Scholars program that has awarded 89 scholarships to 60 students for intensive study over the summer, usually at weeklong, residential workshops offered on university campuses.

But the group does much more. It takes students over spring break to experience the pinnacle of their arts in its five-day New York Arts Adventure, offers the annual Sing and Play student music competition in February and produces the school’s annual musical, working with Jordan-Matthews faculty, staff and students.

This year’s musical is the North Carolina School Premiere of “Frozen,” the first-ever production of the full Broadway musical in the state. Jordan-Matthews received the rights in a national competition with public performances scheduled for April 19-21.

More about JMArts, including the school's statewide premiere of “Frozen,” is available at jmarts.org.

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Trumpeter Maxy Vasquez Gomez performs with the Jordan-Matthews band during last year's Holiday Showcase concert. Seven musical instruments, including a Bach B-Flat Limited Edition trumpet, are part of the contribution from The New Horizons Band.  (Photo by Chip Pate)

Jordan-Matthews vocalists perform last December during the school’s annual holiday concert. The sound system contributed by the New Horizons Band will open new opportunities for musicians to perform in remote venues. (Photo by Chip Pate)

Jordan-Matthews musician Abby Cockrum performs on saxophone with the Jordan-Matthews band at the school’s 2023 Holiday Showcase and will play clarinet in the pit orchestra for JM’s North Carolina Premiere of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical.” Two saxophones were part of The New Horizon Band's contribution. (Photo by Chip Pate)

Among the seven instruments contributed to Jordan-Matthews High School by The New Horizon Band is this Holton H279 Farkas Professional French Horn with a detachable bell. French horn is an instrument one student musician has been wanting to learn. (Photo by Rose Pate)

“The Frozen North” Gallery and Arctic Culture Kit to Draw Everyone into the “Frozen” World

SILER CITY, N.C. — Audiences at “Frozen: The Broadway Musical” and students all across Chatham County Schools and beyond will be drawn into Arctic culture later this winter with “The Frozen North,” a multidimensional exhibition produced by Jordan-Matthews High School science teacher Wendi Pillars and funded by a grant from the Chatham Education Foundation.

“The Frozen North” is the latest community offering planned as part of the “Season of Frozen,” a series of free activities offered around the North Carolina school premiere of “Frozen” that runs at Jordan-Matthews High School from April 19 to 21.

Last fall, JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, announced “Frozen Storytime,” a partnership with Chatham County Schools, where dual-language students appear in costume to read a story from “Frozen” to preschoolers and kindergarteners in English and Spanish and then give each young student a bilingual storybook of their own.

Pillars lived in Norway during two farming seasons and has conducted polar research in Svalbard, Norway, and Savoonga, Alaska. She says those experiences “ruined her life” because she now understands at a visceral level the climate changes taking place across the Arctic — and the impact it is having on 4 million people calling the region home.

“The Frozen North” is an opportunity to share her deep insight into the Arctic at a time when everyone is focused on the musical and its setting.

“‘Frozen’ is the perfect intersection of art and science,” she said. “When I learned about our musical production, I wanted to create a learning experience that could capitalize on students’ interests in the region. I’m a member of Polar Educators International and we’re trying to increase awareness of polar science about Arctic regions, especially for students here in North Carolina.”

Pilllars is working on “The Frozen North” with Alexis Will, lead researcher for the seabird research project based in Savoonga, who will be vetting information and providing educational resources. Will and Pillars worked together during one research project and will be developing exhibits and activities together as part of this latest venture.

One central focus will be “The Frozen North” gallery, located in the hallway outside the school library, that will be open from early April through performances of the musical.

Students and audiences are encouraged to browse through about 15 large, captioned photos that provide a close look into the Arctic, examining its animals, landscape and people, as well as changes now happening in the region. QR codes provide an interactive opportunity for guests to experience Arctic sounds like birds, breaking ice and resident voices. The gallery also will include a scavenger hunt and an e-book with resources for different ages.

Content created for “The Frozen North” gallery will be incorporated into an Arctic Culture Kit with lesson ideas that can be shared among schools and adapted to different grade levels.

Pillars said she plans to share the Arctic Culture Kit with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which loans similar educational material through its Carolina Navigators initiative. Currently, about 200 culture kits focusing on 144 different countries or themes are shipped free of charge to teachers, students and community members across the state.

Jordan-Matthews was selected to present the statewide school premiere of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical” in a nationwide competition sponsored by Educational Theatre Association, Disney Theatrical Group and Music Theatre International.

Centering on the theme “Love Is An Open Door,” the competition was designed to promote inclusion and outreach in high school theater programs. Projects like “The Frozen North,” bilingual “Frozen Storytime” and JMArts 2023 holiday cards featuring “Love in Winter," a color pencil work by JM artist Stephanie Aleman, were all created to reflect that theme.

“Frozen” performances are April 19 and 20 at 7 p.m. and April 21 at 3 p.m. at the Jordan-Matthews High School Auditorium. Tickets are now available to JMArts members with the public sale beginning on February 1.

Details about free community events associated with the production will be announced on JMArts social media and listed on a web page dedicated to the “Frozen” production at jmarts.org/frozen. 

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Wendi Pillars, an Arctic researcher and producer of “The Frozen North,” stands alongside a piece of Bowhead whale baleen in Savoonga, Alaska. (Photo by Jean-Baptiste “JB” Thiebot)

Thick-billed murres, black and white seabirds, occupy cliffside nests alongside a kittiwake and her two chicks near Savoonga, Alaska. The Arctic region is the focus of “The Frozen North” gallery and culture kit. (Photo by Wendi Pillars)

The windswept Svalbard landscape, without sea ice, is one striking Arctic scene about 350 miles from the North Pole. “The Frozen North” gallery was designed to capitalize on students’ interest in the Arctic region as Jordan-Matthews High School produces the North Carolina school premiere of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical.” (Photo by Wendi Pillars)

A lone polar bear stands among its tracks on the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Arctic culture that frames “Frozen: The Broadway Musical” will be highlighted in a scientific exhibition tied to the musical this spring. (Photo by Wendi Pillars)