By Crystal Hayduk
Following an intense audition process last fall, five Chelsea High School (CHS) music students earned the honor of performing at the 19th annual Michigan Music Conference (MMC). The conference was held Jan. 25-27 at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids.
Band
Senior Gus Alafita (trumpet) played in the All-State High School Band. It was his third trip to MMC, since he was also selected when he was in eighth and 11th grades. A private student of Amanda Ross, Alafita said he will always remember playing in All-State ensembles because the musicians are enthusiastic. “Everyone applies themselves seriously to their music and that effort is reflected in the quality of the ensembles,” he said.
Orchestra
Seren Angus, a senior, made her fourth appearance at MMC. With her role as principal bassist in the All-State High School Full Orchestra, she effectively bookended her All-State years with the honor, earning the coveted place when she was in seventh grade, as well.
She is a private student of Jed Fritzemeier, plays in Chelsea House Orchestra (the extracurricular Celtic music group at CHS), and in three additional bands with friends. Phillip Sylvester, CHS orchestra director, said she is a leader in class and an amazing role model.
Over the years, Angus has appreciated the challenge of auditions and playing complex works at concerts with the “good energy” exuded by other musicians. Angus plans to continue her musicianship by adding a major in bass performance to her college coursework.
Junior Luke Mourad (cello) joined Angus in the All-State Orchestra. This year marked his third All-State performance, but his fourth selection for the honor. (The Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association [MSBOA] held pandemic-safe auditions in fall of 2020, but the 2021 concerts were canceled. Students who would have played at MMC still earned All-State status that year.) His private teacher is Bethany Bagbey. Mourad said he makes the effort to audition each year for the pleasure of playing with other talented musicians and “… it’s a great accomplishment to be proud of.”
Wyeth Angus, a freshman who plays jazz bass, earned honorable mention.
Sylvester said, “The Michigan All-State ensembles are an amazing opportunity for the hardest working high school musicians to come together for a professional-level concert experience. I am very proud of our students who participate in the audition process.”
Choir
Soprano Anna Carter, a senior, sang in the SATB Honors Choir. She has taken lessons from her private voice teacher, Lisa Hinz-Johnson, for six years. “I had performance anxiety for a long time,” said Carter. “[Hinz-Johnson] is the number one reason I’ve become so much more confident in music. I love her a lot, and I couldn’t have done it without her.”
Carter couldn’t say enough about her experience at MMC—between the beautiful Amway Grand Plaza, passionate conductors, and informative classes. But her favorite thing was the people and the friendships that were born. “You meet a lot of brilliant musicians, so it’s a very inspiring experience ….” Carter described a moment when all three Honors Choirs sang together for the first time in the Grand Gallery, with high ceilings and skylights. “There’s this beautiful, loud echo, and people were [listening] from the overlook. … Moments like that remind you why you love music so much.”
This was Carter’s second performance in Grand Rapids. Last year, she sang with the SSAA choir. She enjoyed aspects of both choirs despite their differences. “It was fun to sing with the lower voices [in SATB],” she said. “We don’t have a lot of guys in choir at Chelsea, so being in a choir that has a lot of really talented guys is different from choir at school and super cool.”
Junior Gavin Cagney sang in the TTBB Honors Choir and is a private voice student of Wendy Treacher. He performed at MMC in 2019 when he was a member of an after-school choral group at Northwest Kidder Middle School in Jackson. Cagney enjoyed the opportunity to see friends he had made at previous events sponsored by the Michigan School Vocal Music Association (MSVMA). He also had the distinct pleasure of being conducted by Matt Snell, who was his director when he attended Jackson’s Northwest High School.
Kenneth Davis, CHS choir director, said Carter and Cagney scored in the top 12 of their voice parts out of 170 students in the region following a challenging audition process that included both memorization and sight reading. The Honors Choirs are an amazing opportunity for vocal students to sing with other students in the region, learn from master teachers, and perform “incredibly nuanced music,” he said. Davis’s own experience in the 2011 State Honors Choir greatly influenced his career choice, and he hopes more Chelsea students will be selected in the future.
Local Speaker
Sylvester presented his University of Michigan master’s thesis (earned summer 2023) at MMC on Jan. 27. Titled “Integrating Composition into a Performance Focused Band or Orchestra Class,” the talk outlined the benefits of students learning to compose music, along with ideas for how to incorporate projects when concert rehearsal time needs to be maximized.
About MMC
MSVMA and MSBOA help to make Honors Choirs and All-State Band and Orchestra concerts possible.
MMC’s mission statement: The purpose of the Michigan Music Conference is to provide relevant professional development and vibrant musical experiences that support music education for educators and their students (www.michiganmusicconference.org).
