Music Students Soar High to Prestigious All-State Festival

The recognition and excellence of Hamden Hall’s Music Department continues as 13 Upper School students have advanced to compete in the Connecticut All-State Festival following their audition at the Southern Region High School Festival. 

The student choral representatives include seniors Casey Armstrong, Annabel Beatty, Leonard Mao, and Monte Meng; juniors Daniella Li and Jacob Schonberger; sophomores Flynn Carney, Alma Goren-Eisenberg, Leon Jiang, Evelyn Liu, Mae McDonnell, and Jiali Yang. Sophomore Andrew Yang was accepted for orchestra on violin.

“The dedication, perseverance, and commitment of our students has been paramount to reaching this level,” noted Upper School Choral Director Matt Harrison. “I am especially proud of our program-wide literacy scores.”

According to Mr. Harrison, Mae earned a perfect overall score of 198, which is an achievement as the top Hamden Hall student score. Monte, Daniella, and Jiali all earned a perfect sight reading score. Casey, Annabel, Jacob, Evelyn, and Leon all earned a 39 out of 40 for a near-perfect sight reading score.

Other notable musical achievements include both Mae and Annabel debuting with the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media in a new experimental opera largely conceived by AI. Additionally, Mae continues to sing under Dr. Felicia Barber with the Yale Camerata in major Yale concerts and has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall with the University of Connecticut Choral Program in March. Alma and Jacob will be performing at Carnegie Hall in April with their extracurricular Jewish choir.

The Connecticut All-State Festival will take place at the Hartford Convention Center on Thursday, April 4, through Saturday, April 6. The selected students will join fellow musicians from approximately 90 other Connecticut schools to sing under the direction of Dr. Arianne Abela from Amherst College and Dr. Jamie Hillman from University of Toronto. 

According to Upper School Instrumental Director Melissa Hudson, Andrew will take part in both full-time orchestra rehearsals as well as smaller ‘sectional’ rehearsals to prepare for the concert. As he was accepted on the violin after successfully auditioning with the Accolay Concerto No. 1 in A minor, orchestral excerpts, three-octave memorized scales, and sight-reading, he will perform in the Orchestra under the direction of Ho-Yin Kwok, a Hong-Kong born conductor and a three-time winner of The American Prize.