Every year students in middle school through high school audition for a seat in the various chorale, orchestra, and band ensembles at the state level. This year Urbana takes the majority of the seats from the Frederick County students who auditioned.

Students who have placed in All State choral ensembles are Juliana Lynch, Emi Fukuda, Annie Cromwell( in the senior ensembles), as well as Jack Baumgarten, and Julia Bui (in the junior ensemble). In orchestra Sean Chen and Johnny Monk have placed in the Senior Orchestra ensemble . In band, Anushka Singhal has placed in the senior ensemble , as well as Max Li, Lydia Stauffer, and Joshua Yu that have placed in the junior ensemble.

Within the program there are eight different ensembles: All State junior choir, All State senior mixed choir, All State senior women’s choir, All State junior orchestra, All State senior orchestra, All State junior band, All State senior band, and All State Jazz band. Of those eight, Urbana student musicians are in six , displaying a wide array of talent.

The program consists of a non-stop weekend of rehearsals of strenuous repertoire, and then a performance at the end. Students participating will gain experience in music literature and performance that can be received rarely anywhere else.

The turnout of these students that have placed in the All State ensembles is in part owed to all their hard work  . These are a few of the musicians who were accepted in this year who have extraordinary credentials here not only at Urbana, but also in notable ensembles here in Maryland:

Sean Chen, a  sophomore violinist in the Urbana orchestra, auditioned this year for a chair in the violin section of the Senior ensemble for the first time, and notably is the only Musician from Frederick County who placed in this ensemble. The  Allstate senior Orchestra ensemble under the direction of Allen Tinkmen  played Shostakovich’s eleventh symphony, a performance of three movements.

Chen has also been in both the regionally known Frederick Regional orchestra ensemble and The Maryland classical orchestra ensemble. Beyond that Chen has also taken close to eight years of private lessons. He mentioned that “though music has largely affected my life, I will most likely continue in academics, [rather]than a performing arts career.”

In the Allstate choral ensembles five Urbana student musicians were accepted, the largest turnout in years. Juliana Lynch, a senior in two of the three choral ensembles here, and also apart of the IB music class , was accepted into the All State mixed choir  making her a four year veteran of the program. She was under the direction of the clinician Bruce Rogers in the mixed choir ensemble.

She also notably has been involved in the Hazmir International Jewish choir, in the Baltimore chapter. She  has taken five years of private lessons, and is active in the music department here. She has won two Urbana talent shows. She mentioned as well that she plans to continue in the studies of music in the future.

Jack Baumgarten a freshman participating in two of the three Urbana choral ensembles , was accepted into the All state junior choral ensemble, under the direction of Ryan Kelly. He is a Member of the school’s a cappella group, Acapocalypse, as well as participating in this year’s musical Beauty and the Beast actually being the understudy for the beast.

He has participated in choral activities throughout his childhood and middle school. He has also participated in All County choir this year. He also said ‘In the future I hope I will continue in music, and vocal studies”.

Johnny Monk, a percussionist,is a junior in three band ensembles: Marching band, Jazz band, and Drumline . He auditioned for for All State Senior band, however the top five band instrumentalists of each section(percussion, woodwind, brass), were accepted into the All state Senior Orchestra. He will be under the direction of Allen Tinkmen, playing Shostakovich’s eleventh symphony with Chen.

Monk is also apart of the pit orchestra for the musical this year. Other ensembles he has participated in are the Hood College Woodwind ensemble and the Young Orchestra of Prince William. Beyond that Monk has taken seven years of private lessons. In the future he hopes to pursue music education, and studies.

The success of the turnout of the All State musicians from Urbana is owed in part to all the music teachers here at Urbana for giving opportunities, such as these to students. Without the music teachers, the arts at Urbana wouldn’t be thriving  in the turn out in not only the All State ensembles, but in everything else that they present such as the various concerts, recitals, musicals, and also presenting the importance of music  in education.