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.

Myles LaBarre, who attends the Waterbury Arts Magnet School, qualified to play alto sax with the 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 students at the Waterbury Arts Magnet School, Naugatuck High School and Oxford High School 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.

Students who qualified for the High School Chorus included Naugatuck High School soprano Jussonjah Duby, alto Kayla Kusy, alto Alexandra Hernandez and alto Kaylin Spauding. The Waterbury Arts Magnet School was represented by alto Emily Pierce, bass Adam Pierce, tenor Lucas Savage, bass Adam Colagrossi, bass Wilmer Gonzalez, bass Daniel Heetman, bass Jenmark Levin, and tenor Christian "CJ" Janis.

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.