Eighteen Haines student musicians have been selected to perform at the 2014 Southeast Alaska Honor Festival.
That’s up from 11 who qualified last year, said music teacher Kristy Totten. “We had more kids try out and more of our kids who auditioned, made it,” Totten said.
“We had a lot more guys try out this year. There are 32 boys in the honor choir and 10 of them are ours,” Totten said. The popularity of a student “man’s choir,” has a lot to do with the surge, she said. Students in the group not only have generated excitement with their music but they’ve also recruited others to join.
“All the guys in our concert choir made it to the honor choir. It’s exciting,” Totten said.
Six Haines girls have qualified for choir. Junior Kai Hays has qualified to perform in the region’s first honor orchestra as second violin, and homeschool student Carina Diggins, also a junior, has earned a spot in the honor band as second flute.
Local students qualifying for honor choir include: junior Lindsey Jobbins, first soprano; sophomore Madeline Andriesen, junior home-school student Victoria Hansen, sophomore Olivia Wing, second soprano; junior Destinee Cowart and sophomore Rachel Haas, first alto; senior Jennie Humphrey, second alto alternate; freshman Marty Fowler, freshman Keegan Palmieri, first tenor; junior Zane Durr, second tenor; junior Matthew Green and freshman Hudson Sage, first bass; junior Casey Bradford, freshman Dalton Klinger, senior Kyle Klinger, junior Neil Little, and sophomore Dylan Palmieri, second bass.
The honor orchestra is a first for Southeast, and a nod to Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau, which has an orchestra program and is hosting the festival Oct. 19-21, Totten said. Haines High School doesn’t teach violin but violinist Hays has practiced and performed with the school band, she said.
Music teachers from around the region last weekend listened to 400 taped auditions to choose the region’s best student musicians, Totten said.