This year, student musicians were thrilled to find out the All-State Festival was able to happen in person. Students spent three days in Hartford working with a talented group of musicians, led by expert directors and conductors. It was many students’ first overnight trip of their high school years, which created an air of excitement throughout the festival. Rehearsals started the morning of March 31 and continued through April 1, stopping only for meals and evening entertainment. All ensembles performed on Saturday, April 2 for friends and family. Noah Held, Ryan Purviance, and Olivia Salai represented Foran and performed in the Band, Orchestra, and Treble Choir ensembles, respectively.

     Foran musicians from band, choir, and orchestra are given the opportunity to audition for the Southern Region High School Festival (CMEA) early in the school year. If a student is accepted into the CMEA program, they are allowed to apply for the All-State Festival. To audition for either Regionals or All-State, a student must learn a challenging piece of music and perform it along with scales. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, live auditions accompanied by sight reading (performing eight measures of music without learning it beforehand) were the norm. However, safety restrictions forced the program to go virtual, accepting self-tapes of the audition material.

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Olivia Salai

Thankful for the Music: The 2022 Mixed Choir lines up on the risers to begin their performance.