Schola Cantorum ‘Viral Video’ Honored With Third Place in Nationwide Competition

The U of A Schola Cantorum has been awarded third place for the 2023 American Prize in Virtual Performance for a viral video cover of A-Ha’s wildly popular 80s rock anthem, “Take On Me.”

Additionally, the U of A Treble Chorus was a National Finalist in the same category.

The “Take On Me” video was conceived and recorded during the hybrid spring 2021 semester. Students in Schola Cantorum met online to plan details of the project and then recorded the music part individually and part together over several weeks.

More than 500 individual clips of audio were combined to create the final project. The music was arranged, recorded and edited by Stephen Caldwell, associate professor of music. The video has received more than a quarter million views across social media platforms. 

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the classical arts.

The American Prize is nonprofit, unique in scope and structure, and is designed to evaluate, recognize and reward the best performers, ensembles, composers, directors and administrators in the United States, based on submitted recordings. 

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.