Carlson Selected to National Wind Ensemble

WOODBURY, CT — Adella Carlson, a junior at Nonnewaug High School (Woodbury, CT), has been selected to participate in the All-National Honor Ensemble Concert Band of the National Association for Music Education. The ensemble will perform Oct. 29 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN.

Carlson, a clarinetist, earned the right to audition for the all-National Honor Ensemble as a sophomore after being chosen to participate in the Connecticut Music Educators Association’s (CMEA) All-State Music Festival. During the 2013-14 school year, she also was a member of the Berkshire League Music Festival band and the North Region Music Festival CMEA band. During the summer, she played in the top ensemble at the East Carolina University (Greenville, NC) band camp. Earlier this month, she played in the 2014 Berkshire League Music Festival.

The all-National Honor Ensemble concert band of 151 musicians from 34 states will be conducted by Mark Camphouse, professor of Music and conductor of the Wind Symphony at George Mason University in Washington, DC. The band will perform Altitude by Vaibhav Mohanty, Dance of the Jesters by Peter Tchaikovsky, and The Shining City by Camphouse.

Carlson is a student of Pamela Day of Jacksonville, NC. (The two meet weekly for lessons via video conference.) Walter Culup is the music director at Nonnewaug.

As she prepares for her October trip to Nashville, Carlson also plays in the Neighborhood Music School’s Greater New Haven Symphonic Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Mark Gahm, music director at Glastonbury High School, and the conductor of the 2014 CMEA North Region band

This is the second straight year that a Nonnewaug High clarinetist has been selected to the NAfME honor ensemble concert band. In the fall of 2013, Vincent Pristrito, a senior who would be valedictorian and who is now at the University of Connecticut, represented the Chiefs.

Carlson is the only clarinetist among the eight Connecticut residents chosen to the all-National Honor Ensemble concert band.

Also selected were Lauren Bagshaw, alto sax (South Windsor HS), Thomas Jankovic, french horn (Norwalk HS), Sarah Jessen, trumpet (Northwest Catholic HS), Alexa LaBaw, bassoon (Educational Center for the Arts), Talia Michaud, trumpet (Northwestern Regional HS), Geoffrey Russell, tuba (Edwin O. Smith HS), and Jake Tilton, alto sax (Canton HS).

All told, 41 Connecticut high school students were chosen to participate in the all-National Honors concert band, orchestra, and mixed choir.

Carlson also is youth soccer official and a member of the Nonnewaug girls track team. She has participated in 5K runs in North Carolina and Connecticut. In July, Carlson finished first in the 15-19 age group in the Island Independence in Topsail, NC.