This Year’s Adela & Larry Elow American Songbook High School Competition Will Be Virtual

This year’s Adela & Larry Elow American Songbook High School Competition—the third since the competition began in 2018—will be virtual this year. Students, who have been selected to compete, from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Professional Performing Arts School, and Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, will submit videos of themselves singing a standard of heir choice a capella. According to the sponsoring organization, The Mabel Mercer Foundation and Artistic Director, KT Sullivan, the choice of a venue for the first, second and third place winners to perform will have to wait. The panel of competition judges are Natalie Douglas, Adam Feldman, Jeff Harnar, Mark Hummel, Sandy Stewart and Billy Stritch.

The Adela & Larry Elow Teenager Endowment Fund administered by The Mabel Mercer Foundation was created specifically to encourage teenagers to learn and perform The Great American Songbook, as composed between the years 1900-1970. Participants are nominated from pupils who attend New York City public performing arts high schools which require auditions before enrolling students. The singers compete for cash awards: a $2,500 first prize, a $1,500 second prize, and a $1,000 third prize. The first prize winner of will also be invited to appear during the annual Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention.