Cazenovia middle and high school student musicians recently brought home multiple awards from the Darien Lake Music Festival, including two Grand Judges Awards and the Sweepstakes Award.
A total of seven ensembles attended the festival this year, including on May 20 the high school jazz ensemble, concert band, wind ensemble and chamber choir, and on June 3 the sixth grade band, sixth grade chorus and middle school orchestra.
All seven ensembles won awards.
“Our Cazenovia music students have been very motivated and focused this year. Their hard work and dedication paid off in a big way at the festival,” said Theresa Campbell, director of fine arts for the Cazenovia school district. “It’s always exciting to see our students shine in an arena outside of our own district. The result is long lasting as our music teachers often get positive feedback from other music educators when they learn that we are from Cazenovia.”
During the high school competition on May 20, Cazenovia musicians won six awards, including:
•High school jazz ensemble – second place.
•High school concert band – second place.
•High school wind ensemble – first place.
•High school chamber choir – first place.
The Chamber Choir also received the Grand Judges Award for the highest score at their site — 99.9 percent.
For the second consecutive year, Cazenovia High School received the Sweepstakes Award — the highest combined scores of schools with three groups or more.
“I am always very proud when the department is honored based on something that was collaborative. The Sweepstakes Award didn’t go to Cazenovia because of one ensembles score. It was because all four ensembles received high marks that day,” said CHS music teacher Kevin Johnson.
Johnson, who is also the wind ensemble conductor and concert band conductor, said he was “extremely proud” of both his ensembles as well. “At the beginning of the year, the wind ensemble set a goal of 98 and played level VI repertoire [and] achieved their goal … [while] concert band, who had never been to a competition before, also achieved their goal of a 97.”
During the middle school competitions on June 3, Cazenovia musicians won six awards, including:
•Sixth grade chorus – first place.
•Sixth grade chorus – Grand Judges Award for highest score at their site.
•Sixth grad band – second place.
•All three ensembles also received Outstanding with Distinction awards.
“It was very exciting to bring Cazenovia’s youngest choral group to a competition, it was their first time performing outside of our school auditorium,” said chorus teacher Maggie Dougherty. “The students showed school pride and teamwork by cheering each other on throughout the performances.”
