Flathead area students excel at state music festival
Student musicians from northwestern Montana high schools participated in the Western State Solo and Ensemble Festival in Helena earlier this month.
Students qualified to compete at state after receiving top ratings at the district level.
Students were judged as either superior, excellent, good, fair, or poor on a one-to-five scale.
Following are results that were made available from area high schools:
Bigfork
Band
- Superior solos: Audrey Abbott, trumpet; Maya Hartig, flute; KC Isaman, bass; Isabella Sloan, flute; Jenica Thomson, piano.
- Excellent solos: Hannah Crutsinger, alto saxophone; Haley Folwick, clarinet; Bella Goodson, alto saxophone; Jack Johnson, tuba; Maddie Mueller, bass clarinet.
- Excellent ensembles: saxophone duet (Alex Broughton and Hannah Crutsinger).
Columbia Falls
Choir
- Superior ensembles: Columbians, Sonifers.
- Superior solo: Julia Sowerwine, soprano.
Band
- Superior ensembles: Brass band, combined flute ensemble, flute ensemble, percussion ensemble.
- Superior solos: Sean Burgess, trombone; Lara Erickson, trombone; Sam Lovering, flute; Abigail Sellmann, clarinet and baritone sax; Kelly Vigil, flute; Afton Wendt, trumpet.
- Excellent solos: Zach Lovering, marimba; Emma Upton, clarinet.
Flathead
Band
- Superior solos: Eva Bruce, clarinet; Madison Harris, trumpet; Haley Huff, clarinet; Jonah Love, snare drum; Vance Miller, piano; Charcy Ricks-Bullock, flute; Indya Rieger, flute; Anna Schultz, flute; Anna Schultz, alto saxophone; Parker Stocklin, marimba.
- Excellent solos: Raef Dugan, snare drum; Ava Franchi, alto saxophone; Zach Hong, marimba; Leah Spangler, marimba.
- Superior band ensembles: clarinet duet, (Eva Bruce and Nate Deuel); flute, oboe, and clarinet trio, (Neila Danley, Nate Deuel and Anna Schultz); trumpet duet, (Gabe Felton and Tim Liebig); flute quintet; saxophone trio, (Jonathan Grachek, Rylee Houser, and Haley Huff); jazz 1; jazz 2; percussion duet, (Grayson Malone and Vance Miller); Boulderdash percussion ensemble; Horizon percussion ensemble.
- Excellent ensembles: flute duet Faith Linstead and Nikki Thatcher.
Choir
- Superior solos: Tobias Diegel, Hannah Greene, Sydney Harp, Rylee Houser, Sydney Loudermilk, Sarabeth Rogge, Emme Schow, Thomas Shultz and Kailey Stevens.
- Excellent solos: Malia Fetveit; Kelsie Ring.
- Superior ensembles: Duet, (Tobias Diegel and Sarabeth Rogge); Choral-Aires men (Tobias Diegel, Evan Hendrickson, Tyler Kluesner, Sebastian Koch, Gabe Mahoney, Cameron Price, Thomas Shultz, Luke St. James); trio, (Autumn Murray, Emme Schow and Jessica Workman).
- Excellent ensembles: Duet, (Hannah Greene and Kennedy Postovit); duet, (Noelle Miller and Sage Thompson).
Glacier
Band
- Superior solos: Annika Birney, flute and piccolo; Haily Brown, trumpet; Jon Gardner, trombone; Luke Heupel, trumpet; Alexandra Houseworth, trumpet; Dakota Lengele, clarinet; Josie Libby, alto sax; Suzanne Loviska, tenor sax; Amanda Wiersma, flute; Delaney Wirtala, marimba and snare drum.
- Superior ensembles: Flute choir (Ashley Alvord, Annika Birney, Lacey Carmichael, Mandy Ly, Alexis Peck, Amanda Wiersma); trumpet ensemble (Haily Brown, Audrey Goodsell, Luke Heupel, Alexandra Houseworth, Evan Kohler, Bailey Musson, Chris Skelton, James Wheeler); brass quintet (Haily Brown, Jon Gardner, Jacob Hattel, Luke Heupel and Evan Kohler); brass duet (Haily Brown and Evan Kohler); percussion quartet (Jon deHoop, Ryan Kelly, Galvin Ness and Delaney Wirtala).
Orchestra
- Superior solos: Madi Bartlett, cello; Kerraline Bemis, cello; Gabe Fee, violin; Taylor Powell, violin; Carter Purdy, cello.
Choir
- Superior solos: Kerra Bemis, Kaitlyn Carter, Taylor Dannic, Blayke Foppiano, Abigail Garza, Kyla Harris, Shelby Peterson, Jezalyn Schussler, Alexa Wilton.
- Excellent solos: Bria Anderson, Connor Geer, Kostya Hoffman.
- Superior ensembles: Duet, (Bria Anderson and Jezalyn Schussler); trio, (Kerra Bemis, Abigail Garza and Alexa Wilton).
Glacier Breeze (Kala Blincoe, Mary Cabrera, Kaitlyn Carter, Alyssa Christensen, Caroline Dye, Abigail Garza, Kyla Harris, Shelby Peterson, Sierra Riley and Alexa Wilton).
- Excellent ensembles: Duet, (Conner Byle and Derek Smith).
- Superior piano solos: Kostya Hoffman and Logan Slocum.
Libby
Band
- Superior solos: Shelby Smith, flute; Cerria Swagger, trumpet; Sally Weber, violin.
- Superior band ensembles: Woodwind duet (Alyssa James and Maellen Johnson).
- Excellent ensembles: Mixed duet (Alyssa James and Cerria Swagger); baritone sax duet (Maellen Johnson and Sally Weber).
Choir
- Superior solos: Bella Hollingsworth, Mallory Hughes, Sophie Lee, Kaleb Lindgren, Mikalyn Zeiler.
- Superior ensembles: duet, (Laneigha and Mikalyn Zeier); quintet, (Bella Hollingsworth, Sophie Lee, Kaleb Lindgren, Sammi Newton, Mikalyn Zeiler).
- Excellent ensembles: Sextet, (Tania Hernandez, Mallory Huges, Bella Hollingsworth, Sophie Lee and Laina Weber, Mikalyn Zeiler); duet, (Bella Hollingsworth and Mikalyn Zeiler); trio, (Sophie Lee, Kaleb Lindgren and Mikalyn Zeiler); duet, (Sophie Lee and Mikalyn Zeiler).
Troy
Band
- Superior solos: Lyndan Clay, baritone saxophone; Alyssa Kelso, alto saxophone.
- Excellent solos: Damien Simanovicki, tenor saxophone.
Whitefish
Band
- Superior solo: Willem Gray, clarinet; Jolene Green, tenor sax; Jessica Henson, flute; Owen Meador, alto sax; Kathryn Rossi, marimba.
- Superior ensembles: Flute quartet (Abigail Bowden, Jessica Henson, Sophie Olson and Ada Qunell); Birdland jazz combo; clarinet duet, (Willem Gray and Regan Tintzman);tenor sax trio, (Jolene Green, Neva Haugen and Jacob Henson); woodwind trio, (Jessica Henson, Danika Tintzman and Regan Tintzman); percussion ensemble.
- Excellent ensembles: Enterprise jazz combo; saxophone quartet (Bain Black, Aidan Calaway, Jolene Green and Owen Meador); Vanguard jazz combo.
Choir
- Superior solo: Josiah Holien, baritone; Gabby Pickert, soprano.
Orchestra
- Superior solos: Bethany Barnes, harp and viola; Willem Gray, violin.
- Excellent solos: Rachel Bowland, violin; Annabelle Green, bass.
- Superior ensembles: Cellobration (Mary Akey, Faith Arakaki, Talon Belski, Paetra Cooke, Sara Gunlikson, Annie Nixon, Gabby Pickert, Ella Shaw, Ev Sheehan, Gracie Smyley, Maddie Sramek, Fin Stagg and Luca Welle); junior ensemble (Mary Akey, Grace Benkelman, Justin Conklin, Kellen Erickson, Anoush Keuylian, Ian Lacey, Sam Menicke, Annie Nixon, Jeiven Pemberton, Casey Schneider, Ella Shaw and Ethan Wickham); viola duet, (Bethany Barnes and Jolene Green); trio (Annie Nixon, Jeiven Pemberton, Ethan Wickham).