Courter: Glenn Miller Orchestra taps local vocalist

Victoria Duke will leave Chattanooga on Monday to begin a career as lead female vocalist for the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Duke, a 23-year-old Center for Creative Arts graduate, said the magnitude of what that means has settled in a little, but not fully.

“I know Glenn Miller is the big band, but I don’t think it has really sunk in,” she said earlier this week. “It’s got me really kind of speechless. It’s amazing.”

Duke has Allan Brooks, the longtime manager at the Station House, where Duke worked as one of the singing waiters, to thank for her opportunity. When the orchestra announced it was coming to town more than a year ago, Brooks began working to get Duke an audition.

“I sing older songs from the ’40s and ’50s, and Allan thought I would be perfect for them,” she said.

She did audition, though she thought it was for a part-time or fill-in type role. She was contacted in July that the lead position had opened up and that she had the job if she wanted it.

She had to commit for six months and has been given 11 songs to learn immediately.

“I will be harmonizing on some, and I will have six or seven solos,” she said.

Duke had been studying forensic science at Chattanooga State but said she will gladly put that on hold. She also said she ultimately would like to make it to Broadway, but she very much wants to enjoy her new gig as long as possible.

“As long as I have a career in singing, I will be happy,” she said.

n Chattanooga appears to be attractive to outside film and television crews right now.

Tomorrow, there is a casting call at the Quality Inn in Hixson for several roles for a project to be shot in that area in September. For more information and to find out how to send your resume, visit www.meetup.com/EarLuminator-Hixson-Movie-Makers/calendar/14361262/.

Also, according to Missy Crutchfield, city administrator of the Department of Education, Arts & Culture, a national movie production company is looking for three locations that could be used for Civil War-era scenes.

Specifically, it is looking for a small one-room log cabin, a Gettysburg battlefield and a Civil War era town.

Locations cannot be near railroad tracks, flight paths or an interstate.

n Audition America is looking for aspiring and accomplished actors to compete for the title of America’s Favorite New Actor and to earn a supporting role in a feature film.

It is looking for 10 males and 10 females, ages 18 to 30 of any ethnicity, to take part in the acting competition.

Details are available at www.AuditionAmerica.TV.

E-mail Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com.