Woodlands Academy musicians excel in Cincinnati

Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart received top-level honors at a Music in the Parks festival on April 19 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Three ensembles from the all-girls college-preparatory high school in Lake Forest performed in front of nationally acclaimed adjudicators during the Class A competition.

Woodlands Academy’s two choral entries competed against each other, and both received Superior results. The elite small-ensemble student-led Microscope choir brought home the First Place/Superior trophy while the Kaleidoscope choir, under the direction of Woodlands’ choir and orchestra director Matthew Hickey, won the Second Place/Superior trophy. In addition, senior Kaley Meister, Microscope’s director, received an individual honor by winning the Best Soloist medal.

The Woodlands Academy Symphony Orchestra, under Hickey’s direction, returned home with a First Place/Excellent trophy.

Music in the Parks hosts educationally focused music festivals that provide school performing ensembles an opportunity to learn from exceptional conductors in the field of music education. Its stated mission is to bring together these student musicians and adjudicator-clinicians for performances with the goals of musical growth along with recognition for both the individuals and their music programs.

Hickey is understandably very proud of his students’ achievements at the April 19 event. “Community music-making changes lives, and it happens in some of our simplest rehearsal moments,” he said. “But the recognition we received in Cincinnati affirms that the music that happens when we come together is of the highest quality.”

And the experience proved rewarding in other ways for Woodlands Academy’s participants. For example, Hickey said his students absolutely loved their visit to the Cincinnati Zoo and had a lot of fun at the 364-acre King’s Island amusement park during their stay.

This trip was the latest in a string of top award-winning performances by Woodlands Academy musicians at competitive festivals held in different cities each year.

The community is invited to hear music performed in Cincinnati – along with other selections – when the choirs and orchestra perform at 7 p.m. Friday, May 17, during Woodlands Academy’s annual Fine Arts Evening.

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Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic, independent, day-and-boarding, college-preparatory school for young women of all faiths in grades nine through 12. Founded in Chicago in 1858 and located in Lake Forest since 1904, Woodlands is part of a worldwide network of Sacred Heart Schools that spans the United States and 40 other countries on six continents. To learn more, visit woodlandsacademy.org.