During the 2018-19 school year, talented music students across the United States and overseas in military base schools practiced diligently to gain a chair or part in their local, district, and state music honor ensembles. Of those elite high school musicians who were accepted to their district or All-State music ensembles, 556 of them were selected for the National Association for Music Education’s (NAfME) 2019 All-National Honor Ensembles.
On November 7–10, 2019, the 2019 All-National Honor Ensembles (ANHE) will perform at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The Jazz Ensemble, Mixed Choir, Guitar Ensemble, and Modern Band concerts take place 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., November 9, and the Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band concerts begin at 9:30 a.m., November 10. The cost of admission is $10 per person per day. Tickets will be available for purchase online and onsite.
The ensembles consist of a jazz ensemble, mixed choir, guitar ensemble (in its second year), modern band (new this year), symphony orchestra, and concert band. Students were chosen through an audition process. The jazz ensemble will have 20 instrumentalists, the mixed choir 240 vocalists, the guitar ensemble 39 guitarists, the symphony orchestra 121 instrumentalists, the concert band 120 instrumentalists, and the modern band will have 16 musicians. Many ANHE members are also Tri-M® Music Honor Society members. Eligible students have qualified for their state-level honor ensemble program (not applicable to guitar or modern band students) and competed against top students for a spot in these national honor ensembles.
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: Todd Stoll with Camille Thurman (Jazz Ensemble); Tesfa Wondemagegnehu with Edward Rothmel (Mixed Choir); Bill Swick (Guitar Ensemble); Soo Han (Symphony Orchestra); Emily Threinen (Concert Band); and Scott Burstein of Little Kids Rock (Modern Band). All conductors have received top honors in their field and will spend several days rehearsing with students before their concerts.
Names, schools and states, as well as music directors, of the 556 2019 All-National Honor Ensemble students are available on the ANHE website: nafme.org/ANHE.
Photo by Bob O’Lary.
