Courtesy of Ann Norris
The Valdez High School musicians made the trek to Healy over the weekend to the Aurora Music Festival. A winter storm of high winds and blowing snow required an early departure and kept the group tightly tucked into musical mayhem for three days at Tri-Valley school.
The festival hosts sixteen small schools from Delta to Unalaska. Participating schools submit honor group auditions in February. At the festival all students sing or play in a mass band or choir. They also perform solos and ensembles for adjudicators in an effort to improve skills and vie for slots at State competition. The VHS band and choir performed for adjudicators, as well. Almost every VHS student is in both band and choir. The final concert featured every student (400 or so) under the direction of a guest conductor in band, orchestra, or choir.
Honor Choir:
Ezekiel James, Bass 2
James Hall, Tenor 2
Momoe Togaga’e, Soprano 1
Honor Band:
Erik Vincent, 1st chair clarinet
James Humphrey, 1st chair alto sax
Joshua Sims, 1st chair bass clarinet
Oliver Ownbey, trumpet
Braiden Williams, percussion
The Solo and Ensemble competition results determine qualification for State Solo and Ensemble.
The qualifying students are as follows:
Momoe Togaga’e, musical theater solo, “Reflection” from Mulan.
Oden Halley, Jackie Kagak, Joshua Sims, David Sims, James Humphrey, and Braiden Williams, Jazz Ensemble, “Vamanos”
James Humphrey, alto sax solo, “Sonata” and jazz solo, “Afternoon in Paris”
Erik Vincent, vocal solo, “Largo al factotum”
Ezekiel James, trombone solo, “Abendlied”
Erik Vincent, James Hall, Clara Juleen, Joshua Sims, Momoe Togaga’e, Oliver Ownbey, Braiden Williams, Jackie Kagak, Robert Taylor, Ava Mitchell, James Hall, James Humphrey, Ezekiel James, and Jezelle Eskilida:
Percussion ensemble, “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” with clarinet, bass, and handbells.
James Humphrey thrilled the Command Performance audience on Friday night with his alto sax solo, “Sonata for Saxophone and Piano” by Henry Eccles. James earned that spot by selection of the woodwind judge.
Students will head to UAA May 11-12 for ASAA Solo and Ensemble competition.
All three evening performances can be viewed at YouTube.com, Tri-Valley