Vancouver resident Don Appert will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Clark County Arts Commission.
Appert, 61, is in his 25th year at Clark College, where he’s chairman of the music department and conductor of the Clark College Orchestra.
Clark County commissioners and the arts commission will present the award at 9:45 a.m. Nov. 18 at the Clark County Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St.
Appert will also be featured in a CVTV “Clark County Close Up” program that will begin airing Nov. 16 on Comcast channels 21 and 23 and will be online at www.cvtv.org.
Clark College Director of Choirs April Duvic nominated Appert for the award, according to a news release issued Friday by the county.
“Don has always been a champion of promoting music by and for the community. The Clark College Orchestra is an amazing connection for players from all walks of life. The community members serve as examples and mentors for the students as well,” she wrote.
“Don composes music for the college choirs and the students are eager and honored to perform his works. It’s rare to have a composer of his excellence and renown at a community college,” she wrote.
Appert, who has been a guest conductor for the Vancouver Symphony, works as the music director/conductor for the Oregon Sinfonietta and Jewish Community Orchestra in Portland.
He also serves as the Sanctuary Choir Director for First United Methodist Church of Vancouver.
Appert has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in trombone from the New England Conservatory of Music and a doctorate in orchestral conducting at the University of Kansas.
