Author: kmsorch

Solo & Ensemble

Solo & Ensemble Festival

 

LISD held its annual Solo & Ensemble Festival on Saturday at Arbor Creek Middle School.  The festival featured 600+ performances, 50+ of them from Killian.  We cannot overstate how proud we are of our representation at this festival.  Killian students were assigned to two separate rooms and both judges from these rooms were extremely complimentary towards our program, remarking how poised and prepared the students from our school were, and how well the beginners are set up for continued success.  At Killian the orchestra classes are presented as a series of challenges that must be mastered – including mental, physical, and emotional mastery of the music.  When we perform as an orchestra, everything we achieve must be accomplished together.  The Solo & Ensemble Festival represents the individual achievement of each participant.

The judges were asked to rate each performance on a scale from 1-5, with 1 being the highest.  Of the Killian performances, four were rated 2nd division and 47 were rated 1st division.  If the student performed their piece memorized, this was marked for an extra distinction.  In addition to the individual ratings, the judges were asked to select a single outstanding performance from their room.  Here’s the complicated part – the judges listened to musicians of all levels – beginners, advanced middle school players, as well as high school players.  The degree of difficulty was not considered for this award – only the mastery and polish of the performance.  The following students were selected by the room judges:

 

Outstanding Solo

Michael Sheldon – Beginner Cello Solo

 

Outstanding Ensemble

Isaac Ke, Brian Seo, Rishul Ravi – Cello Trio

 

Distinguished Solo

Emily Ke – Beginner Violin Solo

Anna Furnival – Beginner Violin Solo

Chase Allo – Advanced Cello Solo

Claire Chong – Advanced Cello Solo

 

Congratulations to all who participated!

String Drive Appointments

The KMS Orchestra will be hosting our String Drives on Wednesday, April 9, and Thursday, April 10 from 5:30-7:30 for our future orchestra members. You will receive information about the orchestra program and your student will have a chance to choose and size their instrument. The appointment should last about ten minutes. Please use the following form to schedule an appointment for your student. If you have any questions feel free to contact Mr. Cautivar at cautivarm@lisd.net .

Click here to schedule a String Drive appointment for your future Mustang!

KMS Orchestra All-Region!

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 Several KMS students competed in the All-Distrct and All-Region Orchestra festival over the course of October and November.  Students competed in multiple rounds of auditions and a district bootcamp.  The All-Region competition culminated in a two day festival and a concert featuring the very best orchestra players in the region.  KMS Orchestra was proud to be represented by Sammy Alivernia on the bass, Grace Kang on the violin, and Claire Chong on the cello.  

Reflecting on her region experience, Claire Chong said “The All-District audition was nerve-racking but after I got in and practiced every day I felt confident about All-Region. Then I made it!!  The concert was definitely very tiring but I think all the practicing at home, boot camp, and at Hebron High paid off.  Even though I wanted to play violin I think cello is for me.”

Two time All-Region selectee Sammy Alivernia added “The best part about Region is that you get to meet other people who play the same instrument as you. You notice that you have a lot in common with the people around you in your section.”

Gearing up for next year, Grace Kang said “I know now that there are many more kids that are as talented as the people in this school or even better.  This makes me practice harder and more eager to get in for next year’s audition.”

Congratulations to our All-Region players!