Over the weekend of Jan 27, 13 Hinsdale Central musicians traveled down to Peoria to participate in the All-State music festival. Students were selected from hundreds who auditioned and participated in the Illinois Music Educators’ Association (IMEA) District festival before being chosen to represent District 1 at All-State. The Central Wind Ensemble and Madrigals were also selected, on the basis of audition tapes sent in last year, to play and sing at All-State. Since IMEA doesn’t operate as a competitive organization, this is roughly the equivalent of winning state for a sports or academic team.

The weekend is an opportunity for musicians to meet one another and share their musical talents with their peers, parents, and band/orchestra directors from around the state. Chris Merchantz, senior, played saxophone with the Wind Ensemble at All-State. Merchantz said, “It was such a great growth experience to see how far our band has come in the past four years.”

Senior Grace Berg auditioned into the highest band in the state, the Honors Band. She found IMEA to be a rewarding experience, saying, “it was so exciting to meet so many musicians and play such challenging repertoire.”

Congratulations to the following All-State recipients:

Chris Anderson                 All-State Choir

Grace Berg                          All-State Honors Band

Christine Hawn                 All-State Choir

John Kim                              All-State Choir

Megan Knister                  All-State Orchestra

Tyler Leahy                         All-State Honors Choir

Christi Park                         All-State Honors Orchestra

Taylor Rasmussen            All-State Honors Choir

John Stathopoulos          All-State Orchestra

Stephanie Wey                 All-State Honors Orchestra

Caitlin Wong                       All-State Orchestra

Shirley Yang                        All-State Orchestra

Lydia Zoells                         All-State Orchestra