The Colony High School

Many students in the TCHS Orchestra received Excellent and Superior Ratings at the LISD Solo/Ensemble Festival this past Saturday!

This competition is more individual-based than our other competitions and has more self-directed practice involved. Also, students themselves rehearsed their ensembles with minimal input from me.

We were awarded 44 "Superior" medals and 25 "Excellent" ratings. Some of our students were nominated for Outstanding Soloist, which will be announced at a later date.

Both the Chamber String Ensemble and full Symphony Orchestra received all First Division Ratings at the Region 24 UIL Competitions on Wednesday and Thursday! They received wonderful comments from the judges and played beautifully! Thanks for your support as a faculty in our concerts and competitions!

This Thursday afternoon the TCHS Full Symphony Orchestra will be performing in the TCHS Performing Arts Center at 5:00 PM for a panel of judges. They're playing music that is great fun for the "average listener". Their program is: Marche Militaire Francaise by Saint-Saens, Wedding Day at Troldhaugen by Grieg, and the 3rd of three Dansas Fantasticas by Turina. Yes, they sound high-brow, but they're all very different and exciting. The Symphony Orchestra is almost 90 members strong and have players from both the band and orchestra programs.

At 8:00 PM the same evening, the TCHS Chamber String Ensemble will also perform their UIL selections. These include: Sinfonia No. 3 for Strings by Mendelssphn, Arioso by Bach, and A Witches' Sabbath by Berlioz. This is a select group of 23 players from the Chamber Orchestra that makes an impressive and mature sound.

If you should miss these performances, we will have a public Pre-UIL Concert on February 22nd at 7:30 PM where both groups will perform again.

Our UIL Concert and Sightreading Competions are on February 28 and March 1 at Newman Smith HS in Carrollton. More information will be coming soon on these events.

Congratulations to Frank- he has been selected to the 2007 Texas All-State Symphony Orchestra, placing 31st violin in whole state!

On September 26, 2006 LISD All-District Orchestra auditions were held. Sixteen of our TCHS orchestra students were selected for participation in the LISD Clinic/Concert on October 7th at Hebron HS. This is more than double the number we had last year! Congratulations and good luck at All-Region Auditions in October!