Herricks High School received 13 letters of acceptance for students to participate in this year’s All-State Music Festival, which will be held in early December in Rochester. The annual festival, sponsored by the New York State School Music Association, is considered the highest honor a school musician can attain.
In order to be accepted, a musician must receive a perfect score in a formal audition performance, requiring performance of a level six (most difficult) solo, a sight-reading exam and performance of thirteen scales. More than 6,000 high school sophomores and juniors audition for All-State each year and only 800 are accepted.
While in Rochester, the students will rehearse and perform with nationally recognized conductors in musical ensembles including a symphonic band, a symphony orchestra, a string orchestra, a wind ensemble, a mixed choir, a women’s choir, a jazz ensemble and a vocal jazz ensemble. All performances take place at the historic Eastman Theatre in downtown Rochester.
The selected students are Esther Chen, violin, William Chung, alto saxophone and jazz alto saxophone, Ellen Cooper, violin, Angel Ding, violin, Zachery Elgort, snare drum and jazz drum set, Andrew Greiche, tenor voice, Rachel Kim, cello, Kyra Koe, violin, Dustin Liu, cello, Luelle Grace Serrano, violin, Alison Varghese, alto voice. Teachers sponsoring these students include Robin Maddox for strings, Louise O’Hanlon for vocalists and Scott Stickley for band students.
