Music Aficionados Score All-State Invite
Eleven Upper School students – reflecting 20 percent of our growing choral program – have qualified for the prestigious All-State Music Festival in both the Honor Choir and Band.
Honor Choir students include sophomores Aya Wazaz, Rachel Aliwalas, Autumn Boyce, Katalina Baehring, and Akash Jyothish; juniors Charley Tiernan, Di Lu, Nathanael Bloom, and Emerson Katz-Justice; and senior Samuel Lovell.
In addition, freshman Eduardo Pagliaro-Haque of Hamden qualified for All-State Band on oboe.
Hosted by the Connecticut Music Educators Association, the All-State Festival is March 30 through April 1 in Hartford. Selection to the Festival is the highest level of achievement that the state recognizes in choral music, according to Hamden Hall Middle and Upper School Music Director Matt Harrison.
“This is certainly a historic achievement for our school,” said Mr. Harrison, who further noted that 60 percent of Hamden Hall’s music program qualified for this year’s Southern Regional Honor Choir, and 20 percent qualified for the Connecticut All-State Honor Choir.
To put the All-State distinction in further perspective, Mr. Harrison explained that 300 sopranos, 300 altos, 200 tenors, and 200 basses auditioned for 50 spots per voice part. On the band side, 25 oboe players auditioned for nine spots.
“State auditions are extra competitive because all of the students auditioning have already been vetted at the regional level,” he said.
To make state level, students must go through two rounds of auditions (beating cut scores at regional and state level), prepare an Italian aria (college level) and a section of a choral master work (Latin), sing 16 measures of unaccompanied music (sight read/solfege), and sing four scales.
Hamden Hall’s vocal program has grown more than 300 percent in just two years, according to Mr. Harrison, and he maintained that he expects further growth as the “ambitious” Middle School population moves to the Upper School. He took over the Middle School choral program during his second year at Hamden Hall.
“I encouraged two students to audition for the Southern Regional Middle School Honor Choir my first year, and they both made it. We had four make Regionals last year and five this year,” he said.
Students selected to the All-State Festival are also eligible to audition for the All-National Honor Choir which convenes in November in Florida. Junior Emerson Katz-Justice also qualified for All-Eastern Honor Choir based on his All-State results from last year. The Choir is made up of the top singers from 11 states – from Maine to Delaware. He is the first Hamden Hall student to achieve this distinction.
Hamden Hall Country Day School
1108 Whitney Avenue
Hamden, Connecticut 06517
Phone: 203-752-2600
Fax: 203-752-2651
admissions@hamdenhall.org
Hamden, Connecticut 06517
Phone: 203-752-2600
Fax: 203-752-2651
admissions@hamdenhall.org
About Us
Hamden Hall Country Day School, located less than two miles from Yale University, is one of the best private schools in Connecticut to enroll elementary, middle, and high school students. Our nurturing and inclusive community provides a dynamic learning environment that promotes academic excellence by understanding each child and fostering their individual growth.
