Congratulations to Luke Tan ’24 and Sophia Fontaine ’26, who earned the opportunity to perform with the New Jersey All-State Band. The W+H students auditioned for the All-State High School Bands and Orchestra at J.P. Stevens High School in Edison on Jan. 21.
Sophia was accepted into the Wind Ensemble on euphonium and Luke was accepted into the Wind Ensemble and Orchestra on battery percussion. Only students who were accepted into this year's three New Jersey region ensembles were qualified to audition for All-State, so only the best of the best young musicians are accepted into New Jersey All-State ensembles. Furthermore, students placed in the Wind Ensemble receive the highest audition scores on their instruments.
“I am super excited for All-State, and I honestly wasn’t expecting to make it in. The auditions were really stressful because the competition was really hard, so I’m really happy to have made it in!” Sophia said.
For her audition, Sophia was required to prepare a pre-chosen collegiate level solo work for her instrument and all of her major scales within her instrument's published range. Luke was required to prepare a pre-chosen collegiate level snare drum solo, a mallet etude, as well as all fundamental snare drum rudiments and auxiliary percussion traps studies. Both Sophia and Luke also had to hone their music sight-reading skills over the past several months to prepare for the music sight-reading component of their audition.
“The Regional and All-State auditions are some of the most intense times of my year, as they are the culmination of many months of diligent practice. This year, I was fortunate to be selected for the All-state Wind Ensemble this winter and Orchestra next fall, which is truly an honor,” Luke said. “I’m very excited to have the chance to play advanced repertoire with other musicians and conductors who treasure both the music and the experience of making it together! Thank you to Mr. Fontaine for supporting me through the whole process.”
The New Jersey All-State Bands will perform at the NJMEA cConference on Saturday, Jan. 25 for the music educators attending. They will also perform a public concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through NJPAC via the link below:
https://www.njpac.org/event/njmea-all-state-symphonic-band-wind-ensemble-treble-chorus/