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Kristina Butler

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Two Local Teens Named 'Showcase Artists' on Classical MPR

Singer Kristina Butler and Composer Austin Kraft both made the final cut in Minnesota Public Radio's Varsity Contest.

Two budding musicians from Burnsville-Savage will soon take the stage at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Austin Kraft, Savage, and Kristina Butler, of Burnsville, were named showcase artists in Minnesota Public Radio's Varsity Contest, an annual competition put on by Classical MPR. The contest is open to young musicians, aged 14 to 18. This year, the radio station received over 90 submissions from across the state. From that pool, 15 seminfinalists were chosen to be "featured artists" and four were chosen as "featured composers." All featured musicians were able to show their stuff during a professional recording session at MPR’s studios. Their music was broadcast on Classical MPR in March. During the third round, the field was …

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

BHS Students Headed to State Music Competition

Passion and extensive knowledge of classical music make students a "dream team," says choral director.

  Choral director Martha Schmidt thought she saw a dream team of three Burnsville High School students to enter into the Minnesota Listening Contest.  She was right.  The team of Kristina Butler, Savannah Lim and Chris Neiner recently won first place for the region and will now head to state competition Feb. 1.  "We were thrilled," Schmidt said in a District 191 news release. "There are nine regions throughout the state and most of them brought nine to 15 teams (of three each). Our particular region had 24 teams and we won handily by earning 87 out of 100 points while the 2nd place winner got 72."  After getting buy-in from the three students last October, Schmidt began meeting with them after school every week to review the 80-page study …

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