Write a commentFollowing the annual New York State School Music Association’s (NYSSMA) Spring Solo and Ensemble Festival, which are held regionally around the state during the previous spring semester, eligible students are submitted for consideration into the NY All-State Ensembles.
Students perform solos chosen from a manual of pre-selected, high-quality repertoire and are evaluated by NYSSMA-approved Adjudicators who rate and provide feedback for their solos which are ranked by difficulty from Level I, being the least difficult, to Level VI, which represents pre-professional repertoire.
Only students who perform Level VI solos are even eligible for consideration into the NYS All-State Ensembles. Oswego students practiced hard last spring and did very well at the festival, with seven students earning perfect scores on their Level VI solos. High School Choir Director Robert Dumas, remarked on this achievement,
“It is so wonderful to see students work very hard, practice diligently, and be appropriately rewarded,” Dumas said.
Unfortunately, even “perfect scores” are not always enough to get a student admitted into the All-State ensemble; competition from all over the state is fierce. Dumas considers Oswego fortunate to have six out of the seven students who received 100’s accepted into Conference All-State and for the seventh student to be selected as an alternate.
Ana Alacasid will be participating in the Women’s Choir and the remainder of the students have been chosen for the Mixed Choir: Taylor Hamer, Courtney Osmun, Ryan Smith, Matt Spaulding, Chris Van Gorder, and Mark Forger (alternate).
“To receive even an A+ rating at Solo Festival is an incredible achievement, but to have so many students receive such high marks and also be accepted into Conference All-State is truly remarkable,” Dumas said.
Of further note, senior Ryan Smith will be participating in Conference All-State for the 2nd time this year, as he also was accepted for participation during his junior year. Additionally, Ryan has been placed on the Alternate list for the All-National Choir held in Nashville, Tenn.
This year’s NYSSMA Conference All-State will be held Dec. 4-7 in Rochester, NY with performances taking place in the gorgeous Kodak Hall at the Eastman School of Music.
