This year, 24 Mt. Hope High School students have made the cut and will represent the MHHS Band, Choral, and Guitar Ensembles at the All State concert this month. These top musicians represent a range of disciplines and experience; many have been studying their instruments since elementary school.

For many of these students, the audition was their first taste of artistic competition.

“The audition was so stressful, it being my first audition for any type of music group, it was exciting but also nerve-wracking,” said AlexZander Ferris, a Senior member of the Guitar Ensemble. “But it got me out of my comfort zone.”

“I get pretty nervous for auditions, generally, and this one was no exception, but fortunately I was able to push through and ended up getting first chair,” said senior Lucien Chidester, an All State veteran, who plays the viola.

According to David Lauria, the MHHS Choral and Guitar Director, Mt. Hope’s contingent is the third largest in the state this year; it has grown year over year for several years now. The school actually had 25 students qualify, but one has since left the district.

“Success breeds success,” said Lauria, explaining the growth. “The opportunity to have this experience playing with the best students in the state, inspires more students to reach for the opportunity, and the honor. I’m so impressed by the hard work they have put in.”

The admiration is mutual.

“Our music teachers are unbelievably connected with the music they have us perform and to them it’s more than a job,” said Ferris. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen people enjoy their job more than our amazing band directors.”

Calling the experience life-changing, Millie Piper, a junior in the Choral Ensemble said, “There is something incomprehensible about the full-body feeling of looking out through the bright stage lights and seeing the floor, the mezzanine, and the balcony all packed with people listening. A teary-eyed grandmother or two, beaming choral directors, and hundreds of proud parents are able to listen to hours of training blend together into one masterpiece.”

“The directors aren’t just directors or conductors,” said Ferris. “The way they explain the music and conduct us has also been an extremely fun and beneficial experience. They’re not just teaching us a few songs to perform. They’re pushing us, forcing us to become better in a short period of time.”

The students representing MHHS at All State this year include Charlotte Arsenault, Kaitlin Hilario, Brooke Sousa, and Zakari Suman in the Junior Division Choral; Madeline Botelho, Abigail Bratsos, Emilia Brum, Victor Bullard, James Faulkner, Elizabeth Fennessy, Megan Harley, Millie Piper, Joseph Ricci, and Mia Shaw in the Senior Division Choral; Nathan Calouro, AlexZander Ferris, Elena Oliveira, Logan Sartrys, and Jack Sobreiro in Guitar; and Hazel Bradley, Lucien Chidester, Bridget Courtney, Lucienne O'Brien, and Edda Petrillo in Band/Orchestra.

The All-State Bands, Orchestras and Choruses will perform at The VETS on Sunday, March 24. The Junior and Senior Choruses begin the day at 10 a.m., followed the Junior and Senior Bands at 3 p.m., and finally the Junior and Senior Orchestras beginning at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $10 and will be available online, during the March 22 and March 23 rehearsals (cash or check made out to RIMEA), as well as at The VETS door before the concert. For more information, visit www.rimea.org.

“The music department at Mt. Hope has allowed me this incredible opportunity, but also the ability to take a step back and appreciate something as beautiful as the experience of All-State,” said Piper.
“Sitting among such brilliant people, all there to create something bigger than all of us, All-State students have the opportunity to see what a community in music truly looks like.”