Story provided by Stillwater Public Schools and Stillwater Band Boosters
Many Stillwater students will take the stage this weekend as Stillwater hosts the North Central Directors Association Honor Band Clinic and Concerts. Young instrumentalists from the region will benefit from an intensive clinic and rehearsals on Friday and perform on Saturday at the Stillwater High School Performing Arts Center.
“You can see why Stillwater is consistently named a Best Community for Music Education,” says Director of Bands Kevin Zamborsky, “when you see the numbers of musicians from our programs auditioning for and being selected as members of honor band, orchestras, and choirs. And when they come together to play, you can hear why.”
In November, students from Bristow, Collinsville, Guthrie, Jenks, Owasso, Perkins-Tryon, Perry, Sapulpa, Skiatook, and Stillwater auditioned in Owasso for the honor band. 61 Stillwater students were selected for the NCDA Honor Bands, along with 8 alternates. In the event that any selected instrumentalists cannot participate in the clinic, alternates will be contacted to ensure that the band has a full ensemble. During the auditions for NCDA, high school students are also considered for the All-State Honor Band. 39 SHS students qualified to audition for All-State.
“Honor bands give our students unique opportunities to rehearse and perform with students from outside Stillwater,” says Zamborsky. “Many of our students make great friends that they get to work with year after year as a part of these honor bands. Additionally, students get the opportunity to work with some incredible teachers and conductors from around the country that are invited in to direct the honor bands. We are very proud of our students who take these auditions. The musical growth they experience is great, but the confidence and experience they gain is even better.”
The NCDA Honor Bands will rehearse Friday, January 6, followed by a performance on Saturday, January 7 in the Stillwater Performing Arts Center. The 7th Grade concert begins at 2:00, the Junior High concert at 2:45, and the High School concert at 3:30. All concerts are free and open to the public. A full list of SPS’s NCDA Honor Band Members follows:
7th Grade NCDA Honor Band
- Alessa Martinez – 1st chair flute
- Jayla Collins Flores – 2nd chair flute
- Mary Brown – 3rd chair flute
- Ashley Knight – 4th chair flute
- Charley Rine – 1st alternate flute
- AJ Fennell – 1st alternate oboe
- Will McNickle – 1st chair bassoon
- James Zwanch – 1st alternate bassoon
- Ben Li – 1st chair clarinet
- Hermella Abraham – 2nd chair clarinet
- Graciana Casique – 8th chair clarinet
- Willis Gibson – 9th chair clarinet
- Vanessa Rodriguez – 10th chair clarinet
- Henry Joyce – 14th chair clarinet
- Zuleydi Hernandez-Reyna – 16th chair clarinet
- Elijah Um – 2nd chair bass clarinet
- Isaac Ishoy – 4th chair alto saxophone
- Parker Moody – 10th chair trumpet
- Samyak Jain – 11th chair trumpet
- Dexter McCubbin – 12th chair trumpet
- Maverick Ziegler – 1st alternate trumpet
- Deena Elshahed – 1st chair horn
- Elfaz Yoseph – 5th chair horn
- Elizabeth Kifer – 4th chair trombone
- Kaylen Wiley – 7th chair trombone
- Enea Minghetti – 8th chair trombone
- Bowden Storm – 5th chair euphonium
- Dani Hannabass – 3rd chair tuba
- Logan Rose – 1st alternate tuba
Junior High
- Kate Wardlaw – 4th chair flute
- Audrey Zhang – 11th chair flute
- Isabella Genevro – 1st chair oboe
- Emilie Knapp – 2nd chair oboe
- Cooper Perkins – 1st chair bassoon
- Moustafa Soliman – 2nd chair bassoon
- Allison Hoback – 3rd chair clarinet
- Audrey Edgar – 6th chair clarinet
- Jiyu Kim – 8th chair clarinet
- Jazmin Aguilar – 9th chair clarinet
- Emma Pittman – 10th chair clarinet
- Genesis Rodriguez – 11th chair clarinet
- Corinne Savage – 16th chair clarinet
- Abigail Rice – 5th chair alto saxophone
- Grant Weiberg – 2nd chair tenor saxophone
- Louis Perkins – 5th chair horn
High school
- Molly Kelly – 9th chair flute
- Addison Szymanski – 5th alternate flute
- Laura Huckabay – 3rd chair bassoon
- Owen Menne – 4th chair bassoon
- Sophia Genevro – 1st chair E-flat clarinet
- Van Ho – 5th chair clarinet
- Madi Poe – 6th chair clarinet
- Cori Mills – 13th chair clarinet
- Sarah Schardein – 17th chair clarinet
- Emily Meridith – 3rd alternate clarinet
- Danee Sisneros – 5th alternate clarinet
- Ben Wald – 1st chair contra clarinet
- Jackson Joyce – 2nd chair tenor sax
- Yassin Soliman – 2nd alternate tenor saxophone
- Emmie Kennemer – 5th chair trumpet
- Emery Fuxa – 7th chair trumpet
- Tristan Christy – 4th chair horn
- Wyatt McNickle – 5th chair horn
- Ben Wick – 2nd alternate horn
- Teagan Cavins – 1st alternate trombone
- Harry Stanphill – 3rd alternate trombone
- Hank Hanrahan – 4th chair tuba
- Matthew Li – 5th chair percussion
- Conner Sigrist – 1st alternate percussion
