The Van Wert County Courthouse

Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

Emcee, judges named for Peony Pageant

Staff and submitted information

The Peony Festival’s Pageant Committee announces the upcoming Peony Festival Pageant selection ceremony, under the direction of Pageant Director Kim Ousley, to crown the festival’s Queen Jubilee XLVI.  This year’s pageant, which includes nine contestants from local schools, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 5, in the S.F. Goedde Building gymnasium.  

2021 Peony Pageant judges include (clockwise, from left) Nancy Henthorne, William Sauerland, and Ashlee Bickley. photos provided

General admission tickets will be on sale at Jamie Linn’s Boutique, beginning Friday, May 21. The boutique is open Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. Any remaining tickets may be purchased at the door, the day of the pageant.

The ceremony will be emceed by Van Wert’s Susan Burchfield, while judges for this year’s pageant are Professor William Sauerland, Professor Ashlee Bickley, and Nancy Henthorne.  

Countertenor Sauerland, who has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for his “limpid tone and astonishing eloquence” as a singer. is an assistant professor of music and director of choral studies for the School of Music at Purdue University at Fort Wayne, where he conducts the choral ensembles, teaches classes in vocal music education, and supervises student teachers. 

As a vocal soloist, his recent appearances include the American Bach Soloists, Festival Opera Company, Folger Consort, Handel Opera Project, Música Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Oakland Symphony Orchestra, and Pacific Chorale. A former member of the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, Dr. Sauerland has sung throughout the world and recorded multiple albums for Warner Classics. 

Dr. Sauerland earned his doctorate in music education from Teachers College, Columbia University. As a Marshall Scholarship recipient, he earned a Master of Music degree and post-graduate diploma in advanced vocal performance from the Royal College of Music in London, England. 

Born in Indiana and raised on a small dairy farm in Ohio, he received a Bachelor of Music degree from Miami University in Oxford.

Mezzo-soprano Bickley has appeared as a soloist across the United States and Europe. Primarily a classical singer, she is also comfortable singing and teaching additional genres, such as musical theatre, jazz, and pop. While the Peony Pageant will be Professor Bickley’s first experience judging a pageant, she has coached several voice students for talent portions of pageants, including a talent winner of the Miss Indiana pageant. 

Professor Bickley is on faculty of the Purdue University School of Music in Fort Wayne and adjudicates often for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and the Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA). She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Florida State University. 

Henthorne (formerly Nancy White) is from Rockford and is a 1989 graduate of Parkway High School. She studied psychology and elementary education at Summit Christian College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and also studied psychology at Wright State University-Lake Campus in Celina.

Henthorne has been a beauty consultant with Mary Kay for 27 years and also has many years of experience judging local and state pageants in Ohio, from the Sunburst Program, Miss Ohio Scholarship Program, and other local programs. She was also a co-director for the Miss West Central Ohio Scholarship Program. 

POSTED: 05/18/21 at 11:33 pm. FILED UNDER: News