Jerry Upton, director of choirs at Duluth East High School, was named the 2008 recipient of the Choir Director of the Year Award from the American Choral Directors Association-Minnesota .
Upton will be presented with the award during the organization's fall conference Nov. 21-22 on the St. Olaf College campus in Northfield, Minn.
He earned a bachelor's degree in vocal music education from Bemidji State University and a master's degree in choral conducting from the University of Illinois. He has been a music educator for 20 years and conducts five curricular and two extra-curricular ensembles at Duluth East.
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For the past 20 summers, Upton has been a conductor for the American Senior Chorus, formerly the Bemidji State University Elderhostel Choir, and is in his third year as conductor of the Lake Superior Youth Chorus' Encore! ensemble.
He previously sang with the Arrowhead Chorale in Duluth and the Bemidji State University Alumni Choir and currently performs with the vocal ensemble "From Age to Age."
