Six from Chase County among 746 students performing in Lincoln

The Nebraska Music Education Association (NMEA) is pleased to announce the high school students selected to participate in the 2023 Nebraska All-State Ensembles.
Six Chase County students have been selected to perform during the NMEA Conference. Jason Fortkamp, fifth grade, and Leah Lambert, fourth grade, Children’s Honor Choir; Maria Adle, violin, Middle School Orchestra; and Navy Havel, Tessa Smith and Beau Weiss, High School Choir.
These selected students will take part in the 2023 Nebraska All-State Ensembles November 16-18, 2023 on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. This will include several rehearsals with nationally recognized conductors during the NMEA Conference/In-Service Clinic. Each ensemble will perform in concerts on Saturday, November 18 at the Lied Performing Arts Center.
Ensembles include the All-State Band, All-State Chorus, All-State Jazz Band, and All-State Orchestra. All are welcome to attend these incredible performances at the Lied Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available to the public beginning November 3 for $25 each.
Each year over 2,000 of the best musicians in the state in grades 9-12 audition for placement in one of four available ensembles. Selection in one of these groups is one of the highest musical honors attainable in Nebraska.
The Nebraska All-State performers represent collaboration and creativity in its highest musical form. The high school ensembles consist of a concert band, mixed chorus, jazz band, and orchestra. Students were chosen through an audition process. The band will have 155 instrumentalists, the mixed choir 440 vocalists, the jazz band 20 instrumentalists, and the orchestra 131 instrumentalists. Eligible students were chosen by their high school directors to audition and compete against top students for a spot in these state honor ensembles.
After a full day of rehearsals Thursday, the Children’s Honor Choir, with Fortkamp and Lambert performing, will take the stage at 4 p.m. CT at the Lied Center and the Middle School Orchestra concert, with Adle taking part, will be at 4:30 p.m. CT  at The Graduate.
Saturday will be the All-State High School Choir concert, with Havel, Smith and Weiss performing, at the Lied Center beginning at 4:30 p.m. CT. The concert will run in conjunction with All-State Jazz Band. The High School All-State Orchestra and Band Concert will follow at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Selected students will be rehearsing a challenging repertoire in preparation for performing under the direction of four of the most prominent conductors in the United States: Dr. Alfred L. Watkins, conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony in Marietta, Georgia (Band); Dr. Gary Packwood, former Director of Choral Studies at Mississippi State University (Chorus); Tito Carrillo, performer, composer, and professor at Texas State University (Jazz Band); and Luis Viquez, Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Rhode Island (Orchestra).