Lansing High School senior, Isaiah Sterling, earns coveted spot in 2019 All-National Honor Ensemble
Lansing's very own high school senior, Isaiah Sterling, has been chosen to join the "best of the best" for the National Association for Musical Education (NAfME) 2019 All-National Honor Ensembles. Isaiah is the first student from Lansing High School to make a national ensemble, so this is a tremendous accomplishment. The performances will take place on November 7 - 10, 2019 at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
According to the NAfMe press release, the All-National Honor Ensembles performers represent collaboration and creativity in its highest musical form. The All-National Honor Ensembles consist of a concert band, symphony orchestra, mixed choir, jazz ensemble, guitar ensemble (now in its second year), and modern band (new this year). Students were chosen through an audition process. The concert band and symphony orchestra will each have 119 and 121 instrumentalists respectively, the jazz ensemble 20 instrumentalists, the mixed choir 240 vocalists, the guitar ensemble 41 instrumentalists, and the modern band 16 performers. Isaiah will be performing with the modern band on drum set.
Selected students will be rehearsing a challenging repertoire in preparation for performing under the direction of six of the most prominent conductors in the United States: Tesfa Wondemagegnehu (Mixed Choir); Soo Han (Symphony Orchestra); Emily Threinen (Concert Band); Todd Stoll with Camille Thurman (Jazz Ensemble); Bill Swick (Guitar Ensemble); and Scott Burstein (Modern Band). All conductors have received top honors in their field and will spend several days rehearsing with students before the concert.
To see a full list of names, schools and states, as well as music directors, of the 557 2019 All-National Honor Ensemble students, lists will be posted soon at https://nafme.org/programs/all-national-honor-ensembles/.