Meet the Chelsea Band and Orchestra students who competed at Solo and Ensemble Festival

By Crystal Hayduk

One of the most popular musical events of the school year, the Solo and Ensemble Festival sponsored by the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA), was well-attended by local student musicians.

High school students competed on Jan. 31, and middle school students competed on Feb. 7, both as part of the District 12 (Southeast Michigan) competition.

The event, held each winter at Franklin High School in Livonia, provides students with an opportunity to perform in front of a judge for a rating of one (superior) through five.

Students are permitted to perform a maximum of three unique pieces, and can include one solo on their instrument (accompanied by piano) if they so choose.

According to high school band director Rick Catherman, students “… receive feedback from experts on their instrument …” following their performance. “The chamber ensemble performance opportunity is an important part of the student’s overall musical learning experience. A majority of the work (by the young musicians) in preparation for the solo and ensemble festival performance is student directed learning.

“The students put together their own groups, they are involved with the choice of musical repertoire, and learn the music together with limited instructional support.”

High school level soloists or ensembles who receive a rating of one at the district festival are eligible to go on to compete at the state level.

“All high school band members performed extremely well at the festival, with 27 band student soloists and ensembles qualifying for the MSBOA State Solo and Ensemble Festival in March,” said Catherman.  “We will be hosts for that event on Saturday, March 21 here at Chelsea High School.”

Jim Otto, middle school band teacher, said that a record number of his students participated this year. “We had 22 1st division ratings and four 2nd division ratings,” he said.

A high number of orchestra students also participated in the festival, all earning ratings of one or two, according to Nathan Peters, middle school orchestra teacher.

Students who attended the Solo and Ensemble Festival are listed below:

BAND – High School

• Madison Adkins
• Keaton Aldrich
• Jon Alexander
• Madalyn Allen
• Hannah Almhiemid
• Anna Argento
• Kathryn Beauchamp
• Kelly Bertoni
• Amanda Boham
• Michael Bolakowski
• Jack Bolt
• Briana Bowden
• Nick Bremer
• Elena Brown
• Olivia Catherman
• Phoebe Clacher
• Corrine Clouse
• Josh Cole
• Christopher Cooley
• Carly Critchfield
• Marc Dehoorne
• Stephanie Dehoorne
• Jacob Dembinski
• Clare Dettling
• Katie Dewyer
• Zack Dewyer
• Kyle Doyle
• Kyle Erber
• Nora Fahle
• Ananth Ghosh
• Maddy Goodin
• Becca Gotha
• Christopher Grande
• Abe Hack
• Alise Hale
• Paul Heck
• Mitchell Henschel
• Megan Heydlauff
• Kali Hill
• Daniel Hillaker
• Caroline Hirth
• Sydney Hodel
• Nicholas Hoffman
• Jacob Hornick
• Josh Howard
• Brian Jacobs
• Tori Katke
• Renae Kempf
• Rose LaForest
• Sarah Lantis
• Katie LaRoy
• Zach Lee
• Daniel Lindauer
• Mackenzie Loy
• Sean Lyons
• Tim Lyons
• Elizabeth Marchetti
• Tyler Martin
• Jesse Martinez-Kratz
• Sarah Mesko
• James Mida
• Laney Miller
• Mason Mitchell
• Tobin Moore
• Clara Nelsen
• Kaia Newman
• Jeremy Northrop
• Nolan Peterson
• Ayla Raye-Leonard
• Catey Regis
• Josh Rigotti
• Christopher Roush
• Noah Ruffin
• Christine Schultz
• Jenna Sexton
• Ruthie Shackelford
• Tommy Shook
• Kendra Skittenhelm
• Ross Smyth
• David Trimas
• Julia Vangoor
• Anna Vanneste
• James Watson
• Catherine Wellman
• Josh Wilkerson
• Joe Wise
• Kaylin Zocharski

BAND – Middle School
8th Grade

• Noah Cook
• Charlie Dahlgren
• Madalyn Davis
• Evan Erber
• Kira Frahm
• Lauren Grande
• Hannah Greenstein
• Lisa Kaiser
• Gretchen Kuras
• Drew Lewis
• Erin McDonnell
• Georgie Reynolds
• Remy Sturt
• David Thoms
• Drew Vanderspool

7th Grade

• Olivia Beauchamp
• Abby Blough
• Abbie Bost
• Emily Chizek
• Owen Fahle
• Kara Feldkamp
• Daniel Golding
• Zander Hartsuff
• Ben Hash
• Thea Higgins
• Suhjin King
• Mikayla Koch
• Elizabeth Kolman
• Alex Lewis
• Dan Lin
• A.J. Mitchell
• Gabe Morr
• Sawyer Northrop
• Olivia Olk
• Ethan Pfeiffer
• Olivia Prodin
• Emily Rosolowski
• Zach Sanborn
• Abbey Sexton
• Katherine Struk
• Kayla Sweeny
• Brynn Vandegrift
• Kelsey Weinreich
• Teresa Wozniak

ORCHESTRA – High School

• Hannah Adkins
• Madison Adkins
• Lee Argir
• Nicole Bareis
• Ryan Berry
• Patrick Bertoni
• Taylor Brodbeck
• Aidan Carry
• Abe Cone
• Lucas DeRosia
• Kaylin Dever
• Elijah Dobos
• Nora Dobos
• Artemis Eyster
• Dominic Gasbarre
• Jenna Gileczek
• Emily Griggs
• Stephanie Hargenrater
• Liam Heaney
• Alli Heinen
• Nathan Hovater
• Zach Johnson
• Hannah Kahler
• Phoebe Kahler
• Helena Korner
• Kylie Kuebler
• Aidan Kurth
• Noah Lee
• Marielle Lenehan
• Danielle Lobdell
• Kourtney Long
• Logan Mahalak
• Sabrina Matusko
• Tori Miller
• Tori Miller
• Cara Negus
• Jordan Niehoff
• Jordan Niehoff
• Molly Olk
• Meghan O’Neill
• Lydia Peters
• Leah Pifer
• Steven Resteman
• Kelson Rose
• Roy Schmidt
• Linda Schuh
• Emily Schwarz
• Laura Scudder
• Cheyenne Shemwell
• Isaac Smedshammer
• Reese Smith
• Zoe Steigerwald
• Samantha Sturt
• Josie Surel
• Maggie Tarasow
• Emily Timberlake
• Joe Vermilye
• Karana Wickens
• Mariel Arbogast Wilson
• Angela Wozniak

ORCHESTRA – Middle school

• Ali Boham
• Madison Brodeur
• Maddie Christie
• Haylee Chubb
• Jack Conlin
• Madeline Dapprich
• Stephanie Dark
• Mathieu Dehoorne
• Clara Dobos
• Caitlin Dusenbury
• Katherine Eckland
• Josiah Fitch
• Megan Fletcher
• Maegan Ford
• Eva Garland
• Sarah Gilbreath
• Rheana Grudzinski
• Olivia Haber
• Katie Rae Hayduk
• Tom Kennings
• Morgan Kurth
• Reagan Lehman
• Lillian Maynard
• Brendan McGuire
• Myranda Montoye
• Ava Nelsen
• Joseph Norwood
• Carly O’ Neill
• Kennedy Parker
• Kyle Patterson
• Anthony Pearse
• Carolyn Pierce
• Bennett Proegler
• Abby Shore
• Sophia Sjogren
• Jacob Smedshammer
• Taylor Stephenson
• Foster Thorburn
• Hayley Townsend
• Julia Van Reesema
• Chris White
• Wesley Wickens