On January 25-28th, nine Concordia choir and two band students traveled to Richardson, TX to participate in the 2023 TPSMEA (Texas Private School Music Educators Association) All-State Choir and Band. These students submitted audition recordings in October and made it through two rounds of auditions to ultimately earn a spot in the All-State Choir and Band. These ensembles rehearsed for two and a half days before performing concerts on Saturday in the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson, TX.
CHOIR:
After the final round of judging, they needed to end up being ranked in top 25 of their individual sections. A couple of our students earned some high overall rankings in their sections - senior Lauryn G. earned the #4 overall Alto 1 ranking, senior Ephraim I. earned the #5 overall Tenor 2 ranking, freshman Ella R. earned the #5 overall Alto 1 ranking, and sophomore Selena L. earned the #6 overall Soprano 2 ranking! This is also the first year that CLHS has had two freshmen make the All-State Choir.
The following students earned a spot in the 2023 TPSMEA All-State Choir:
- Lauryn G. (Sr.) – Alto 1 (1st year all-stater)
- Ephraim I. (Sr.) – Tenor 2 (2nd year all-stater)
- Melissa O. (Jr.) – Alto 1 (2nd year all-stater)
- Selena L. (So.) – Soprano 2 (2nd year all-stater)
- Lucas W.-H. (So.) – Bass 1 (1st year all-stater)
- Marley W. (Fr.) – Soprano 1 (1st year all-stater)
- Ella R. (Fr.) – Alto 1 (1st year all-stater)
The choir clinician this year was Cristi Cary Miller, a well-known teacher, conductor, and composer.
BAND:
Concordia had two band students who made it through the competitive audition process to earn spots in these prestigious ensembles. Everett K. (Sr.) and Matthew S. (Jr.) both earned top 4 spots in the state for their instruments including Matthew S. (Jr.) who was selected as the top piccolo player of all of the private schools in Texas!
Matthew S. (Jr.) auditioned on two instruments and earned the 4th chair flute and the 1st chair piccolo in the All-State Band, so he got to choose which instrument to play for the weekend. Matthew chose to be the 1st chair piccolo as the top piccolo player in the state. The All-State Band clinician was Dr. Quincy Hilliard, composer in residence from University of Louisiana – Layfayette. Dr. Hilliard brought enthusiasm and joy to each rehearsal. He is a Grammy nominated artist and has composed music for all types of genres and events including the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Everett K. (Sr.) earned the 4th chair trombone in the All-State Jazz Band. This year the jazz band clinician was Dr. Sarah Roberts from University of Texas – Tyler. Dr. Roberts has performed with a wide variety of artists from Martina McBride to The Temptations to Randy Brecker to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. It was amazing to watch her work with her students bringing a wealth of knowledge. Everett even got to have a solo on a piece in the concert!
This year’s TPSMEA All-State was a wonderful learning and fulfilling experience for our students and culminated in a series of fantastic concerts on Saturday. We are blessed to have such talented students that represented Concordia well and grew tremendously over the weekend. We are proud of you for this wonderful accomplishment!
To learn more about our Fine Arts offerings at Concordia, visit www.sadernationtx.com/finearts