Saratoga Voices hosted its 28th Annual Vocal Scholarship Competition for high school seniors from the Capital Region. Mea Cleary, from Hoosick Falls Junior/Senior High School, won first prize: a $1,500 scholarship. Maura Lander, from Averill Park High School, earned second place and will receive a $1,000 scholarship. The students’ music and voice teachers are Ambigay Yudkoff and Dan Foster.
Mea Cleary impressed both audience and judges with a spirited performance of Adelaide’s Lament from Guys and Dolls. In addition to playing lead roles in the musicals Into the Woods and Guys and Dolls, she was selected for three consecutive years for the Rensselaer County School Music Association (RCSMA) Chamber Choir and the Albany Pro Musica High School Choral Festival, where she secured a prestigious solo. Hoosick Falls High School’s choral program, led by Dr. Yudkoff, brought Mea and nine other students to Carnegie Hall in 2024 to perform in A Soul Filled Journey: The Music of Ola Gjeilo, a DCINY concert under the baton of Jose Daniel Flores Caraballo. Mea will attend City College of New York to study marketing and communications as well as musical theatre.
Maura Lander plans to pursue classical performance and music education at Ithaca College. For her audition, she presented a baroque-style piece written by Dan Foster. She has been a choral apprentice with the Saint John’s Collegium Choir in Albany and has participated in the NYSSMA Area All-State Choir and the RCSMA Senior All-County Choir. Maura won first prize in the college category at the RCSMA Solo Music Scholarship Festival, a competition also won by Mea Cleary in the high school category the previous year.
The competition was adjudicated by Saratoga Voices Artistic Director Noah Palmer and SV Board Member Mary Frances Miller.
The Scholarship Program is a vital part of Saratoga Voices’ community outreach. For more information, visit www.saratogavoices.org.