THS musicians perform at State Solo and Ensemble Festival

STEVENS POINT – Tomahawk High School (THS)’s eight state-qualifying musicians had a capstone event on Saturday, May 3, performing their state-qualifying solos and duets for adjudicators and audiences at the Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) State Music Festival held on the UW-Stevens Point campus.

Each performance was rated in the top two award divisions by the adjudicators, and each soloist or duet gave their strongest performance so far this semester.

Performances at a WSMA State Festival are scored in a range of five to 30 points, and the scoring is like golf – the lower the score, the stronger the performance. Musicians must earn a score of five to seven for a First Division rating and a score of eight to 17 for a Second Division rating.

THS musicians presented the following vocal music performances at the festival.

Second Division ratings:

• Scarlet McKenzie and Ella Hilgendorf, duet, “The Sea” by Johannes Brahms.
• Galen Schmidt, solo, “Amor Bendito” by Juan Ríos Ovalle.
• Cedar Hoffman, solo, “My Lover is a Farmer Lad” by John Jacob Niles.
• Ella Hilgendorf, musical theater solo, “I Don’t Need a Roof” from Big Fish.
• Greta Kurth, solo, “Der Lindenbaum” by Franz Schubert.

First Division ratings:

• Ella Hilgendorf, solo, “Du Bist Die Ruh” by Franz Schubert.
• Sadie Ruder, solo, “Se Tu M’ami” by Alessandro Parisotti.
• Julia Fries and Madeline Long, duet, “O Lovely Peace” from Judas Maccabaeus by G.F. Haendel.

The THS music faculty is proud of the very fine musicianship that our students put on display at the festival. We would like to congratulate them on their hard work and practice time that brought them to this point.

Tomahawk High School offers many curricular and co-curricular opportunities for students in music, including Concert Band and Chamber Choir, music festivals and an annual musical theater production. Approximately 70 students elect to participate in the school’s two curricular music ensembles.

Each school year in Wisconsin, approximately 11,000 performances qualify for state from their district music festivals, involving more students in a state-level event than almost any other co-curricular program. State Solo and Ensemble Festivals are held on 11 University campuses across Wisconsin in late April and early May. More information on all WSMA programs can be found at www.wsmamusic.org.