Check out the article in the Mercer Island Reporter, featuring the great work being done by Bryan Kolk and the Mercer Island High School Orchestra. People in the community are getting excited about the upcoming MIHS Orchestra performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
We’re excited too!
This concert is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these young musicians and a chance to show a broader audience that they deserve to play in the greatest venues in the world.
We’re proud to share an article written by Mercer Island Orchestra instructor Sarah Hart, published in Voice Magazine, a publication of the Washington Music Educators Association. See below and click link to read more:
Senior soloists: Nora Evans-violin Ethan Park-double bass Alex Mayton-flute Lauren Majewski-oboe Jared Marcus-violin
SENIOR SOLOISTS & AWARD WINNERS
Alex Mayton has been with the orchestra program since his freshman year. He plays the flute and piccolo for both orchestra and band. He will be attending Virginia Military Academy to study Biology where he would like to continue playing the flute as a hobby.
Ethan Park started his musical life as a violinist and decided to switch to string bass at the end of his sophomore year. As a bass player, he played a Major Concerto that same year at Eastshore Solo and Ensemble Festival. Ethan will be attending University of Washington next year.
Jared Marcus is a graduating senior in the class of 2021 and will be attending Syracuse University in the fall to study Broadcast and Digital Journalism. Jared has a multitude of fond memories throughout his many years in the orchestra program but a few of his greatest include, fun trips to Factoria mall after performing, his Senior solo, and the once-in-a-lifetime Disney trip with the Orchestra. Jared will dearly miss Mrs. Miltun and the entire Orchestra class and can’t wait to see his friends play solos and continue to make amazing music for the future.
Lauren Majewski has enjoyed music all her life, and started playing the oboe 6 years ago. She joined orchestra as a freshman, and has loved every minute of it. Lauren will be attending University of Washington and is excited to take part in their amazing music and orchestra program.
Norah Evans has been playing the violin since age 4 and has been part of the Mercer Island Orchestra for the last 8 years. Several highlights include the trip to Disneyland, her senior solo, and placing at Eastshore Solo and Ensemble. She will be attending Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA next year. She looks forward to bringing her violin to play in the Olin Conductorless Orchestra.
MIHS ORCHESTRA 2021 AWARDS PHILHARMONIC Outstanding Freshman Nandini Mishra Most Improved Kate Greer & Alexander Durkee Leadership Award Sidh Schrof Most Supportive Angela Lee & Owen Pasquali Most Inspirational Grace Go & Henry Goecken Best Musician Ava Yeh & Alexander Singh Most Talented Chloe Degracia & Yunia Zhang Most Helpful Julia Pearman & Violet Kinney & Luna Ruan Best Attitude Izzy Biggs & Marla Lee & John Lee Most Hardworking Lily Ryerson & Susie Yang Best All Round Yuki Ye & Violet Kinney Knows everyone’s phone # Grace Go Orchestra Board Sidh Schrof Dedication Daniel Marcus & Davin Aoyama & Madison Liu Director’s Award Lucas Lessard & Megan Sandoval & Ryan Chen
SYMPHONIC Outstanding Sophomore Priya Bhananker Outstanding Junior Lily Jester Most Improved Simran Albuquerque & Harrison Wang Leadership Award Angeline Lee Most Supportive Stella Prophater & Angelina Durkee Most Inspirational Ellie Shi Best Musician Amanda Chin Most Talented Clyde Brown Most Helpful Thomas Dinh Best Attitude Cora Meredith & Jolie Llorin Orchestra Board Stella Prophater Dedication Miles Avilez & Bailey Rosengren Director’s Award Ben Payson & Kaitlin Zhong
CHAMBER Outstanding Sophomore Sophia Rosales Outstanding Junior Joe Zhang Outstanding Senior & Leader Norah Evans Jr Leadership Ava Rosenbaum;
So Leadership Garrett Lee Most Improved So Katie Evans; Jr Aimee Graesser & Sr Brynn Doty Most Supportive Annika Bahnanker Most Inspirational So – Sarah Hochberg; Jr. Bennett Samuelly Sr Jeremy Wong Best Musician Hide Shiotsu Most Talented Ethan Park & Shaadaan Burn & Jarrett Sato Most Helpful Kyle Iwasaki Zoom Tech Helper! Best Attitude Marti Flickinger & Nin Garr Most Hard Working Olivia Guo & Tong Lin Best Video Editor Ethan Cheney Did not get the Most Distracted/Most Distracting Award – Jared Orchestra Board Norah, SarahF, Justin, Annika, Elsa Dedication Elsa Lanctot & Justin Shen Wind Player Dedication Ben Kinder Outstanding Wind Player Alex Mayton & Lauren Majewski Director’s Award Jared Marcus & Rachel Leung & Jon Pinney-Brown
PTA Orchestra Award – Jared Marcus Team-O Miltun – Sarah Fredrickson National School Orchestra Award – Norah Evans
