Guilford High School Students Win Prestigious Award

Guilford, CT - The Guilford High School Student Orchestra won the prestigious and competitive Connecticut High School Music Theatre award for best student orchestra in the school’s West Side Story musical. 

Guilford High School Music Teacher Mark Gahm, who has been at the school for more than a decade, said what makes Guilford’s student orchestra so special is that for productions they rely largely on students, while many schools have to hire professionals to assist. 

He said only three people were hired to join the 40 plus students during West Side Story.
Guilford High School performed West Side Story in April at the new Performing Arts Center at the school.
Gahm said he is proud of all of the students and said they deserve all the credit for their success. He said the program is so fortunate to have to so many talented students that can play all kinds of instruments.  

“It was a nice honor to be nominated for the award,” Gahm said. “It was really cool. We worked extremely hard. It was a very challenging music and score for the orchestra to perform. They did a great job.”

He said more than 20 schools competed in that competitive category. He said Guilford hadn’t won this particular category in some time but that changed this week.
Gahm said the entire theatrical performance was amazing and he credited Theatrical Director Cara Mulqueen-Teasdale and Kevin Buno, who is the musical director.