All-State: Students in music department receive highest honor

Twenty-seven Westside students are representing Westside’s choir, band and orchestra this weekend at All-State. The students traveled to Lincoln yesterday afternoon, Nov. 19, to begin rehearsing for their performance Saturday evening.

To be selected for the choir, students had to prepare seven songs for a filmed audition where they were randomly given three of the seven songs to perform. All of the taped auditions are then sent to a judge who selects which students will receive the honor to participate in All-State.

“It’s one of the highest honors you can get as a high school musician,” choir director Kyle Avery said. “There are different honor choirs and different honor bands that happen throughout the year, but this is a big one. This is the one that everyone wants to do.”

The students chosen to perform at All-State include the following:

Chorus: Brenden Avery, Ben Battafarano, Reilly Christensen, Olivia Coulter, Tyler Gregurich, Kate Hammitt, Isaac Henson, Jacob Hershiser, Lillian Hoy, Thomas Schnell, Ethan Stark, Jacob Thomas, Ben Volberding, Nathan Wallace, Zane Watanabe, Ian Wear and Phoebe Yueill

Concert Band: Ava Bowman, Elley Lawson and Jill Tucker

Jazz Band: Simon Bessmer, Grace Calderon, Tyler Douglass, Kathrine Hamann and Zach McCarty

Orchestra: Emily Hammans and Beatrice Hammel