Local Students Participate in Annual Southern Region High School Music Festival

The Connecticut Music Educators Association holds an annual music festival at a high school in their region. The CMEA is the federated state organization of The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) which represents the profession of music educators in the United States. Their mission is to provide programs and activities for professional educators, students, and future music educators striving to enhance the quality of music education for all children.

The CMEA Southern Region is one of the four regions of the CMEA and is comprised of over fifty public and private high schools from the southern portion of the state of CT. Students participating in the festival took part in a rigorous audition process at Foran High School in November of 2013. The students who "made it" now have the option of auditioning for the CT CMEA All-State Ensembles. This year's CMEA festival was held at Francis T. Maloney High School in Meriden on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014 and several students from area high schools were chosen to perform in the four ensembles.

French horn player Heather Hassler, who attends Oxford High School (OHS,) qualified to play with the High School Concert Band. The huge Concert Band was directed with much animation by James Patrick Miller and they opened the second act with four challenging selections: "Mother Earth (Fanfare)" by David Maslanka, "Chant and Jubilo" by W. Francis McBeth, "Do Not Go Gently Into that Good Night" by Eliot DelBorgo and inspired by the poem by Dylan Thomas, and the classic "Washington Post March" by John Philip Sousa.

Several Oxford High School students qualified to sing with the 2014 High School Chorus. This group of 198 students was conducted by Dorothy Barnhart, the artistic director for the Connecticut Chorale, and accompanied on piano by Stacy Cahoon. The students performed "Cantante Domino" by Giovanni Croce Ed. Steven Porter, "There Shall a Star from Jacob Come Forth" by F. Mendelssohn, "Bashana Haba'ah" by Nurit Hirsch and arranged by John Leavitt, "On My Dreams" by Jocelyn Hagen and "Ain-a That Good News!" by William Dawson.

The following Oxford students sang with the High School Chorus: bass Nathan Riddle (OHS,) bass Tyler Panek (ACES Educational Center for the Arts,) soprano Erin O'Brien (OHS,) alto Chloe Chappa (ACES Educational Center for the Arts.).

The festival also included a High School Orchestra under the direction of Eckhart Preu, Music Director of the Spokane Symphony and the Stamford Symphony in CT.

The High School Jazz Ensemble was directed by Kevin Blancq currently at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art in NYC. This group was comprised of 21 talented musicians on brass, guitar, piano, bass and drums, including three young ladies, and their performance of jazz classics was impressive.

The entire concert was recorded on both CD and DVD and professionally photographed. Congratulations to all the talented high school students that participated and the music educators who helped to get them there.