Choral and Instrumental Students Take Musical Talent to Regional Festival

The Upper School Music Department has been recognized for its talent and continued excellence as a combined 32 students have earned a place in the Southern Regional Honor Choirs and Instrumental Ensembles following successful auditions.

The students advanced to compete in the Southern Region High School Music Festival sponsored by the Connecticut Music Educators’ Association on January 17 and 18, 2025, at Naugatuck High School.

The choral student representatives for Mixed Choir include seniors Sanjiv Persaud and Jacob Schonberger; juniors Kevin Cai, Flynn Carney, Luca Correa, Alma Goren-Eisenberg, Leon Jiang, Evelyn Liu, Tobias Liu, Bruno Massaro, Mae McDonnell, Alex Pu, Paula Wang, Jason Xie, Jiali Yang, and Perry Yang; sophomores Bethel Desta and Yiwei Zhang; and freshmen Anna Aslan, Trista Luan, Daniela McTiernan Huge, and Trin Sukduang. The student representatives for Treble Choir include senior Daniella Li; sophomore Becky Liu; and freshmen Kristina Carlson and Abella Cheng.

“I am proud of the students who worked hard to earn a place in the Southern Regional Honor Choirs,” said Upper School Vocal Music Director Matt Harrison. “We were close to our school record of delegates; and with our young talent pool, I expect our growing program to continue receiving regional and state recognition in the months ahead.”

The instrumental student representatives include senior Sissi Zhang on violin for Orchestra; juniors Cole Christman on trumpet for Band, Ravindu Karunaratne on violin for Orchestra, Victor Ma on percussion for Band, and Andrew Yang on trumpet for Band and violin for Orchestra; and sophomore Allison Yang on violin for Orchestra.

“I’m proud of all of our Hamden Hall instrumentalists who auditioned for Regionals and worked very hard to learn their audition music,” said Instrumental Music Director Melissa Hudson.  “They are dedicated musicians who took on the additional challenge of preparing advanced solo pieces for their particular instruments. I’m very happy for our students who were accepted into the Southern Region Festival’s Honor Orchestra and Honor Band. Participating in the Regional Festival is a wonderful opportunity for our students to meet and perform in these outstanding ensembles with other talented students from Southern Connecticut.”