By Audrey Posten

Clayton Ridge junior Claire Brandt and sophomore Kailey Dempster performed their duet to the song “For the Beauty of the Earth” at the Outstanding Performance Showcase at Iowa State University on May 19.

The event recognizes Iowa’s most accomplished student soloists, small ensembles and choirs, representing the top 1.8% of more than 7,800 entries at State Solo & Ensemble Contest sites from across the state. The two were chosen by a judge as one of two “Best of Center” performances of the entire day at the State Solo & Ensemble Contest held at Clayton Ridge in April.

“It’s an honor,” said vocal music director Adam Radcliffe, who noted this was Clayton Ridge’s first outstanding performance selection in two years and the first duet since he’s taught at the school.“It’s always been ensembles in the past years, or a solo. But it ended up being them, which was awesome. They worked hard and sounded great.”

Brandt and Dempster are no strangers to singing together.

“We grew up together, and when we were younger, we were always singing together,” Dempster recalled.

“There are videos of us in talent shows at campgrounds and stuff,” Brandt added.

That longtime friendship is why the two wanted to sing together.

They began preparing for Solo & Ensemble soon after the show choir season ended, selecting their song in mid- to late-February after combing through duet books.

“We looked through books, we listened to a couple and Rad played some for us,” Brandt said. “We gravitated toward the one that we picked.”

“For the Beauty of the Earth” was a unique duet selection in that it was energetic rather than slow. Although both Brandt and Dempster are sopranos, Dempster took the alto part.

“We found something that could fit both their voices, even though they are the same voice part,” Radcliffe explained.

Amid solos and small group performances, the two sang their duet during the middle of the day. According to Brandt, everything clicked.

“It went really well and we did it probably as best as we had ever done it. There was a lot of good energy between us,” she said. “I think that was the big thing. We’ve sung so often together and know each other well enough to know what’s going on and adjust to the other person.”

Radcliffe described their performance as “the most in tune they had sung,” with crisp cutoffs. The judge had just small critiques. Based on their score and the judge’s response, Radcliffe felt they were in the running for a “Best of Center” nod.

Brandt learned the news first while scanning the ratings in the common area.

“I did a double take,” she said. “I almost didn’t believe it at first. Then I called Kailey and told her and then I told Rad.”

Dempster recalled her reaction was excited, yet surprised. She and Brandt felt another group they loved would receive the honor.

“We had two vocal centers at our site here. So they were just one of two performances. And the other performance from here was a piano solo, because the piano soloists perform in the choir centers, so they were actually the only vocalists that made it from our site,” Radcliffe said.

Although the focus at State Solo & Ensemble Contest isn’t ratings, but performing to the best of your abilities, a selection to the Outstanding Performance Showcase is certainly “an added cherry on top,” he remarked.

The duo, along with Radcliffe and friends Erika Sarazua and Britany Arce-Sanchez, left for Ames early the morning of May 19. At the Outstanding Performance Showcase, they were greeted with a photo op and the chance to get memorabilia like T-shirts, stickers and pins.

“I think they tried to amp it up and make it even a bigger deal,” since the last time he attended, said Radcliffe.

Brandt and Dempster ran through the performance just once in warm-ups, then sang mid-morning.

Dempster admitted she was less nervous because they weren’t being judged this time.

“It went well when we performed,” she said, “but it was kind of different because it was a lot bigger room. So it sounded different to us than what we were expecting.”

Radcliffe was also positioned differently than other times they had performed, noted Brandt.

“It was different than what we did at contest, which is a little bit intimidating, but I think we recovered well,” she said. “It’s kind of a crazy feeling, being at such a small school, that we can do something that big. I think it is really cool.”

After performing, the group listened to six to 10 other outstanding performances—some solos and some ensembles—ranging from Class 1A to 4A.

“It’s really cool because you can’t always tell the difference. The 1As are just as good as the 4As,” Radcliffe said. “It’s cool to hear the best of the best.”

Now, Brandt and Dempster are inspired to do it again next year.