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- Colton Hess
Monday, May 29, 2023
Pictured from left to right: Bradley Kerley, Associate Director of Choirs at CSHS; Megan Pierson, Hannah Bronson, Colton Hess and Marla Ringel, Director of Choirs at CSHS
Carroll Senior, Colton Hess has been selected to represent Carroll Choirs in the 2014 All-State Mixed Choir at the Texas Music Educators Association convention next month. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive.
Colton along with classmates Megan Pierson and Hannah Bronson competed in Abilene the weekend of January 11 in the final round of auditions fort the 2014 Texas All -State Ensembles. In this final round of auditions, Megan placed 18th out of the original 250 Alto I’s. Hannah made 3rd chair piccolo and Colton was ranked 4th out of the 250 Bass I’s.
Over 1,500 students are selected among more than 55,000 students from around the state competing for this honor to perform in one of 13 ensembles (bands, orchestras, and choirs). This competitive process begins throughout the state in auditions hosted by 28 TMEA Regions. Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From this ranking, a select group of musicians advances from their Region to compete against musicians from other Regions in seven TMEA Area competitions. The highest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA Area competitions qualify to perform in a TMEA All-State music group. These All-State students participate in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors during the annual state TMEA Clinic/Convention. Their performances before thousands of attendees bring this extraordinary event to a close.
For more information about Carroll Choirs, visit this webpage of the Carroll Choir Booster Club website.
Carroll ISD students are among the dozens of young actors from Grapevine’s Ohlook Performing Arts Center that recently earned national recognition at the 2013 Junior Theater Festival.
The Junior Theater Festival is the world’s largest musical theater festival. This year’s festival was held in Atlanta the weekend of Jan. 18-20 and brought together 4,000 students and teachers representing 82 groups from 23 states.
Ohlook Performing Arts Center won a Freddie G Outstanding Ensemble award and Carroll High School student Colton Hess
(pictured left) won a Freddie G Outstanding Individual Male Performance for his role in presenting selections from Honk! JR. Hess was also named to the Broadway JR. All-Stars.
Actors Bryan Batt and Derek Bowley reviewed the performances.
Batt said of the group’s performance, “I have not seen such a talented group of young people ever. It’s at the level of young performers on Broadway. These kids rock!”
Added Bowley, “Ohlook Performing Arts Center offered us a wonderful performance of one of my favorite shows. Their impeccable direction allowed the audience to fully appreciate the wit and humor in the dialogue. Every performer was strong, and the whole presentation was great from start to finish.”
“I am so proud of my students. Receiving an ensemble award is a great achievement because it recognizes how well they worked together as a cohesive unit,” said Ohlook Artistic Director Jill Lord.
Over a dozen Carroll ISD students were part of the Ohlook Performing Arts Center cast list for the 2013 Junior Theater Festival.
The students are listed by campus: