Six members of  St. Margaret’s concert band were chosen to participate in the California Association of Independent Schools Music Festival last week, joining students across the state at the two-day event.

 

The California Association of Independent Schools Honor Band Festival was held at Viewpoint School in Calabasas. The festival band was composed of top musicians nominated by band directors at independent schools across Southern California, making it an all-star team. 

 

Upper School students included grade 11 students: Abby Hancock (piccolo), Maddie Scott (flute 1), Sonny Mendez (bass clarinet), and Thalia Hamidi (bells/chimes), and grade 9 students: Arianne Bruckner (alto sax 1), and Celia Xu (alto sax 2).

 

Within 24 hours of meeting their ensemble, the St. Margaret’s students participated in a culminating performance in front of an audience, joining students from independent schools across California to create a large festival band.

 

Participating schools included Cate, Viewpoint, Windward, Harvard-Westlake, Archer, Buckley, La Jolla Country Day, and Crossroads. The guest clinician and conductor for the festival was Dr. Elizabeth Parsons, who recently retired as Associate Director of Bands from University of Illinois. 

 

The festival band performed a diverse repertoire of college-level music, including Cape Breton Postcard by Catherine McMichael, Chasing Sunlight by Cait Nishimura, Our Cast Aways by Giroux and John Williams Symphonic Soundtracks arranged by John Moss. 

 

The CAIS Honors Music Festival gives select music students the opportunity to perform challenging music in a friendly environment, in addition to learning new skills and techniques. 

 

Band Director Chris Carbajal said, “It’s impressive that the festival band was able to learn and perform such challenging music in just 24 hours.” 

 

Congratulations to all the participating students and schools for their hard work and dedication to music!