Despite Difficulties, 54 Belmont Musicians Accepted In Northeast Junior District Honors Festival

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Photo: Singers and instrumentalists score at Jr. District Honors

Fifty-four students from Chenery Middle and Belmont High schools were accepted to perform in the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Northeast Junior District honors ensembles this year, according to Arto Asadoorian, the Belmont Public School’s Director of Fine and Performing Arts. The remote festival took place on May 1, and included students from school districts across eastern and northeast Massachusetts.

The following Belmont students were accepted to Junior District ensembles. The process of auditioning this year was much different than in the past, involving pre-recorded auditions. While we congratulate these students for being accepted to honors ensembles, all of the students who auditioned should be commended for their dedication and the effort they put into their auditions.

  • Joesph Barry Trombone
  • Danielle Bergen Violin
  • Rohan Bhagwati Trombone
  • Claire Boyle Chorus
  • Parker Brookins Trumpet
  • Allison Caputo Violin
  • Brady Chan Trumpet
  • Aidan Chen Clarinet
  • Amy Chen  Violin
  • Ian Choi  Trumpet
  • Joshua Christensen Chorus
  • Mark Chumack Trumpet
  • Quincy Crockett Oboe
  • Caroline Dudzinski Bassoon
  • Bethany Eagar French Horn
  • Allyson Gomez-Martin Chorus
  • Mark Guzelian Trumpet
  • Hank Hicks  Bassoon
  • Elspeth Hulsman Chorus
  • Esther Ji  Violin
  • Nari Kang  Violin
  • Daniel Kim Cello
  • Ethan Kim Trombone
  • Sam Kutsman  Clarinet
  • Ian Lee  Violin
  • Isaac Lee  Clarinet
  • Clodagh Liang Violin
  • William Lin  Alto Saxophone
  • Daniel Liu  Violin
  • Laila Lusis  Trombone
  • Jordan Macarty Alto Saxophone
  • Ali Masoud  Tenor Saxophone
  • Hugh Montana String Bass
  • Sydney Mun  Oboe
  • Katherine Murphy Alto Saxophone
  • Stella Ovcharova Mallet Percussion
  • Arjun Pai  Trumpet
  • Reyansh Parikh Snare Drum
  • Ryan Park  Trumpet
  • Nathan Peck  Violin
  • Rohin Pinisetti Trombone
  • Su Min Pyo  Clarinet
  • Sophia Qin  Oboe
  • Andrew Quinn Cello
  • Maia Redi  Mallet Percussion
  • Jin Roe  Cello
  • Malcolm Stanton Trumpet
  • Andrew Wood-Sue Wing Jazz Guitar
  • Aiden Yang  Violin
  • Evan Zhang  Clarinet
  • Larry Zhang  Clarinet
  • May Zheng  Chorus
  • Emily Zhou  Flute
  • Elizabeth Zuccarello Euphonium

‘Play, Music!’: 76 Belmont Student Musicians Earn Acceptance to Senior District Festival

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Photo:

The following announcement is from Arto Asadoorian, director of Visual & Performing Arts for the Belmont Public Schools.

This past Saturday, Nov. 18, 132 students from Belmont High School traveled to North Andover High School to audition for the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) Northeastern Senior District Festival. These students spent weeks and months preparing an audition that required them to perform a piece of solo repertoire and demonstrate high levels of proficiency playing selected scales and sight reading. Auditions are judged by professional musicians, and the highest performing students are selected to perform in the MMEA-NED Band, Chorus, Orchestra, and Jazz Ensemble.

This year we are very proud to announce that 76 students from Belmont High School were accepted in the Senior District Festival. The question I will be asked by many in the community is, “Is this the most students that have ever been accepted?” The answer to that question is, “I really have no idea!”, since we don’t keep statistics like this on hand. What I can say is that I have been writing these e-mails every year for quite a while, and I don’t ever remember typing a number higher than 77.

Along with the students who were accepted, we must also congratulate those who auditioned and were not accepted – some by only the narrowest of margins. There are dozens of students who were one or two points shy of being accepted, which of course tells us that they are well-deserving of a place in the District ensembles.

The fact that so many of our students perform so well at these auditions each year is a direct result of their hard work, the support they receive from their parents, the excellence of the teaching faculty who work with them, and to the high value, our community places on music education in our schools.

Below is the list of students who were accepted to perform at the 2018 MMEA-NED Senior District Festival. Congratulations to these students and their families on this impressive achievement!

Idris Abercrombie Trombone
Rebecca Anderson Tuba
Eli Barnes Chorus
Merrill Barnes Chorus
Sam Bastille Chorus
James Boyle Chorus
Stephen Carvalho Chorus
Alyssa Chen Violin
Jason Chen Clarinet
Jessica Chen Viola
Katarina Chen Viola
Grace Christensen Chorus
Miriam Cubstead Chorus
Eleanor Dash Trumpet
Sylvian Davidson Tenor Saxophone
Tori Dignan Chorus
Emily Duffy Chorus
Garrett Eagar Trombone
Joia Findeis Viola
Mariko Findell Euphonium
Elizabeth Galli Chorus
Mary Galstian Chorus
Christopher Giron Bassoon
Alicia Grassia French Horn
Catherine Graves Chorus
Cameron Gurwell Euphonium
Sammy Haines Chorus
Honor Hickman Jazz Tenor Saxophone
Eva Hill Chorus
Allen Jang Chorus
Seiyoung Jang Trumpet
Wonyoung Jang Euphonium
Ethan Jin Jazz Trumpet
Nate Jones Jazz Trombone
Daniel Joh Kang Violin
Emily Kim Violin
Isabelle Kim Violin
Edward Lee Chorus
Miro Leeb Viola
David Leigh Flute
Meri Lochhead Chorus
Chris Lynch Trumpet
Philip Lynch Trumpet
Raffi Majikian Chorus
Jackson Mann Chorus
Natalie Marcus-Bauer Chorus
Clare Martin Alto Saxophone
Noah Merfeld Chorus
Matthew Miller Clarinet
Sebastian Newell Chorus
Charlotte Nilsen String Bass
Christina Noonan Chorus
Alex Park Jazz Trumpet
Chloe Park Trombone
Jessica Peng Flute
Calvin Perkins Trumpet
Olivia Pierce Chorus
Elisabeth Pitts Chorus
Audrey Quinn Violin
Connor Quinn Chorus
Valentine Reynolds Chorus
Annalise Schlaug Cello
Becca Schwartz Chorus
Lila Searls Alto Saxophone
Walter Shen Chorus
Ian Svetkey Chorus
Jason Tang Clarinet
Will Thomas Chorus
Shankar Veludandi Chorus
Allan Wang Clarinet
Alex Wilk Viola
Amy Wu Oboe
Andrew Xu Bass Clarinet
Alex Yang Cello
Clark Zhang Oboe
Henry Zuccarello Trombone

Belmont High, Chenery Musicians Earn All-State, District Honors

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Despite snow and cold, the Massachusetts Music Educators Association held auditions over the past two weeks for its annual All-State Festival, as well as for the MMEA Northeast Junior District Festival.

This year, 10 students from Belmont High School were selected to perform in the All-State Festival, a three-day event to be held at the Boston Convention Center, honoring the highest achieving high-school musicians in the state and invites them to perform in the All-State band, chorus orchestra and jazz ensemble.

  • Devon Carter, chorus
  • Lucas Cmok-Kehoe, chorus
  • Andrew Eurdolian, oboe
  • Eunice Lee, flute
  • Hannah Messenger, French horn
  • Zoe Miner, chorus
  • Connor Quinn, chorus
  • Hannah Read, flute
  • Jack Stone, bass trombone
  • Thomas Zembowicz, chorus

The Junior District Festival honors the younger music students, selecting the most outstanding musicians in 7th to 9th grades throughout northeastern Massachusetts. Students will have the opportunity to perform in the honor band, chorus, orchestra or jazz ensemble under the direction of high-profile conductors during the three day festival at Lowell High School in April. This year, 59 students from Chenery Middle and Belmont High schools were selected to participate.

From Belmont High School:

  • Naomi Arsenault, oboe
  • Belle Carbeck, chorus
  • Elana Chen, flute
  • Miriam Cubstead, chorus
  • Caleb Harris, cello
  • Wan Young Jang, euphonium
  • Owen Loveluck, cello
  • Andrew Mazzone, string bass
  • Linnea Metelmann, French horn
  • Georgia Sundahl, chorus
  • Evan Wagner, trumpet, jazz ensemble

From Chenery Middle:                                                                                                                            

  • Idris Abercrombie, trombone
  • Jason Ackerson, trombone
  • Zoe Armstrong, chorus
  • Hoon Baeg, cello
  • Renuka Balakrishnan, chorus
  • Christina Cahaly, chorus
  • Jackson Carter, cello
  • Aristotelis Chaniotakis, chorus
  • Jonah Covell, cello
  • Phoebe Derba, string bass
  • Justin Dong, clarinet
  • Garrett Eagar, trombone
  • Valentina Garcia-Martinez, chorus
  • Chris Giron, bassoon
  • Rachel Hong, chorus
  • Jackie Jiang, flute
  • Ethan Jin, trumpet
  • Nate Jones, trombone
  • Brandon Kim, violin
  • Isabelle Kim, violin
  • Madeline Kitch, chorus
  • Daniel Klingbeil, cello
  • Edward Lee, chorus
  • Luna Lee, chorus
  • Parker Lutz, chorus
  • Philip Lynch, trumpet
  • Clare Martin, alto saxophone
  • Abby Mohr, chorus
  • Viola Monovitch, guitar , jazz ensemble
  • Alex Park, trumpet
  • Chloe Park, trumpet
  • Audrey Quinn, violin
  • Kate Sandage, clarinet
  • Annalise Schlaug, cello
  • Lila Searls, alto saxophone
  • Eric Shen, violin
  • Aarya Tavshikar, bassoon
  • Mayura Thomas, chorus
  • Joshua Wan, trumpet
  • Alex Wilk, viola
  • Naina Woker, chorus
  • Yanzhe Xu, clarinet
  • Abby Yu, chorus
  • Lara Zeng, violin
  • Isabelle Zheng, cello
  • Tiancheng Zheng, clarinet