A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Joseph Kotiranta of Sawyer won the 2020 Minnesota Sings competition.
Cromwell-Wright student Aurora Gervais was a top finisher.
Due to Covid-19 and social distancing mandates, the 11th annual Minnesota Sings competition took place virtually this year. Participants submitted videos of their performances via YouTube. Sawyer resident Joseph Kotiranta, one of two candidates sponsored by the Cromwell Area Community Club, won first place in the age 13-to-20 group. Cromwell-Wright student Aurora Gervais, a first-time competitor, ranked in the top five.
Kotiranta chose Antônio Carlos Jobim's "The Girl from Ipanema," singing it first in English and then in Portuguese.
"My dad urged me to choose this song, because he said it was a winner," Kotiranta said. "It was difficult to perform without the presence of live audience members because I feed off their energy when they get excited."
His plans for his $3,000 prize? "I'm saving it for college and toward building a house some years in the future."
His win also nets the Cromwell Area Community Club $500 as the sponsor of the top singer.
This was Kotiranta's third year participating in Minnesota Sings. He won seventh place in 2018 and fourth place in 2019.
The win means he can't participate again, Kotiranta said ruefully. "Because I won the top prize. Those are the rules. Never again."
He's considering auditioning for the television talent show "The Voice" after college, but is still a bit unsure. Kotiranta plans to return to his entrepreneurial job of singing at area nursing homes after the pandemic is over. He's enrolled at University of Wisconsin Superior, pursuing a degree in writing.
At age 14, Cromwell- Wright School's Aurora Gervais was one of the youngest competitors. She worked on 12 possible solos. Her parents gave her feedback and she eventually chose "Diamonds," by Sia Furler and Benny Blanco, and recorded by Rihanna.
"It would have been easier in front of the judges," she said. "Then everyone would have been working with the same mic and sound system." She placed among the top 24 finalists. Aurora has sung solos at the annual Cromwell Harvest Fest, not held this year because of Covid-19.
You can view and hear both performances, and those of others around the state, on YouTube at the Minnesota Sings Channel. You can watch the awards ceremony on the Hastings Community TV Channel, also on YouTube.
