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Schools

Watchung Hills Sends 12 to Prestigious Performance Groups

Students in orchestra, band and choral groups chosen for honors.

Twelve students won places in honors music groups that enlist the most talented instrumentalists and vocalists both in the region and in the state. After auditioning with their peers in either instrumental or choral performance, they have been selected to join similarly talented youth in concerts that showcase their abilities.

Named to Central Jersey Regional bodies were six instrumentalists and six vocalists.

Named to  2012 Central Jersey (Region 2) Orchestra were: Felix Kung and Albert Zeng (violin); Victor Li (viola); Jake Bahr (trombone) and Sebastian Kogler  (French horn). Amy Hu, flutist, was named to the  Central Jersey Wind Ensemble.

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Bahr was also named to the State of New Jersey Youth Symphony which will perform later in the spring.

The 2012  Central Jersey Orchestra will appear in concert on January 8 at Montgomery High School at 3:00 p.m. and the Wind Ensemble will perform at the same venue on January 15 at 3:00 p.m.

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Vocalists named for positions  in the 2012 Region  II (Central Jersey) Chorus were: Evan Vitureira (tenor I); Daniel Grant ( bass I); Kevin Lee  and Benjamin Choe (bass II), all in the Mixed Choir;  Tenzin Tsepel (alto II) and Rachel Hobble (soprano II), Women’s Choir.

All State Chorus members have not as yet been selected.

The honors music groups are sponsored by music educators. Local students are within the  Central Jersey division, one of three such  divisions statewide.

Both choral and instrumental honors groups’ tryouts attract hundreds of competitors each year. Those who capture places will have undergone a demanding screening process before an impartial judging body of music educators. After being selected, they will put in 20 to 30 hours or more of rehearsal time preparing for their public appearance.

David Udell (instrumental) and Angela DiIorio (choral) directors of the Hills music program, said the screening process is a rigorous one, demanding not only talent, but also diligence and the time required for the many rehearsals previous to the performance.  Those who are ultimately chosen become familiar with some of the aspects of the performing arts, a useful experience if they are considering these fields as a career. They are also given the chance to become acquainted with selections at a more difficult level than one finds in the high school repertoire, and of working with students on their level of competence.(All State groups, for example, have appeared  at New Jersey’s Performing Arts venue in Newark, NJ, and/or  annual teachers’ conventions.

The educators said students also have the opportunity of seeing how diligence and discipline in their musical studies pay off in achieving their goals.

Local citizens need not necessarily travel afar to hear some of these talented performers, who, with their fellow music students, appear in free public concerts at Watchung Hills Regional High School various sending schools and public events during the  current school year .

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