Around 300 choirs, bands and orchestras from the region attended including Austin, Faribault and Owatonna. Overall, students were there to compete for judges from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Solo and Ensemble is a regional contest, it is a chance for student musicians to showcase their talents in small groups or solos in front of judges. These judges can be directors from other schools or retired directors. They have the experience to listen and grade these students’ performances. Hundreds of students spend months preparing for their performances. After competing for the judges, students receive feedback, a score and rating. In some cases, students have the chance to win medals, certifications and other types of awards and recognition.
Students have complete creative freedom when deciding what they want to perform. Solo and Ensemble is a chance for students to use their strengths to their advantage and by choosing what that looks like to them. Along with learning how to do things on their own and be confident every step of the way is an important part of being a musician.
Band director Suzanne Mauer said, “It’s one thing to get up onstage with 40 of your closest friends and play, but to get up by yourself and do it is a totally different feeling.”
ALHS students ended Solo and Ensemble with 35 Superior ratings along with receiving seven Excellent ratings. Multiple students were awarded Best in Site honors. Those students included Kuol Dual (11) for his clarinet solo, Anthony Whelan (12) for his French horn solo and Selah Griffith for her vocal solo. A Best in Site Honor means that their performances were the best the judges had seen out of everyone that performed.
That wasn’t the end for ALHS’s Best in Site Honors. The Chamber Orchestra and the Clarinet Choir also took Best in Site. The Chamber Orchestra includes, Lily Sorenson, Alexis Sorum, Eh Snow Taw, Anais Israel Nechanicky, Ler Thaw, Jacob Luoma, Issy Steele and Jaden Malkoski. The Clarinet Choir includes Kuol Dual, Ingrid Peralta Linares, Evalyn Holcomb, Jovie Drescher, Elle Schulz, Gaby Tufte, Albert Bierman and Tony Whelan.
Performing takes more than just learning how to play the music, as Senior and Best in Site winner Anthony Whelan said, “I like to find all of the different emotions and feelings within the music and figuring out how I can get the listener to feel it too.”
