16 advance to Solo and Ensemble State

Katherine Robinson, Sports Editor|February 13, 2014

Tess Fox

Freshman Spencer Engel plays his piece on the marimba in front of a judge at the Solo and Ensemble contest.

After the Regional Solo and Ensemble Contest on Jan. 25 and Feb. 1 at Wenatchee High School, WHS will have 16 performances at State at Central Washington University on April 25-26. In order to proceed to State, performers must place first in their respective category. WHS had 16 Category Winners, 10 First Alternates, and six Second Alternates.

According to Band Director Jim Kovach, standout performances include seniors Tess Fox, Jack Murray and Josh Willey, who not only won their category, but were involved in several ensembles that also won.

Murray qualified for State in the Clarinet solo as well as three group categories; Small Brass Category, Large Woodwinds and Small Woodwinds. Willey will perform in the Trumpet/Cornet Category, the Large Brass Category, and the Small Brass Category. Fox qualified for State in three solo categories; Piano, Mallets and Multiple Percussion. Fox was also a member of The Andrew Johnson Experience, winner of the Large Percussion Ensemble Category.

Other individual Category Winners include senior Drew Jaeger in the Tenor Category, freshman Spencer Engel in the Timpani Category, sophomore Dylan Ryan in the Snare Drum Solo and freshman Sabrina Zhu in the Cello Solo Category.

The Hot Scots and The Andrew Johnson Experience both won the Small Percussion Ensemble and Large Percussion Ensemble Category Winners respectively, the Quincy-Sax Duet From a Different City and Venucharizoise were Small Woodwind Ensemble and Large Woodwind Ensemble Category Winners, the Cerulean Daydreams and J Squared were the Large and Small Brass Ensemble Category Winners, and the WHS Chamber Orchestra were Category Winners in the Large Strings Ensemble category.

Jaeger, a third-time Regional Category Winner and competitor at State already has begun to prepare for State and improve on his performance at Regionals by taking private voice lessons and practicing his song “O Del Mio Amato Ben.”

“I have a lot of expectations for myself, and everyone has a lot of expectations for me,” Jaeger said. “So I need to work really hard to prepare so I can follow through.”

“I’d have to say that WHS students performed at their usual level,” Band Director Jim Kovach said, “That is to say they won in almost every category in which they competed and will advance on to state.”