Kudos to these fine musicians at Pittsfield High School!

Eight Pittsfield High School orchestra students were recently accepted into the Western Massachusetts Senior District Orchestra with four of them having high enough scores to receive an All-State recommendation.

The PHS orchestra students will perform in Western District Symphony orchestra in January at UMASS Amherst Performing Arts Center with other students in Western Massachusetts who were accepted through auditions.

Students with All state recommendations will audition at the state level at Shrewsbury High school on Saturday, January 25th for a chance to perform in March at Symphony Hall in Boston.

 

Here is the list of PHS orchestra students along with the honor they have achieved:

Gerdlie Jean-Louis - principal of viola section - all state

Gerdrose Jean-Louis - cello

Heather Cruz - cello

Joseph Weinberg - bass assistant principal - all state

Nathan Cracolici - assistant principal of viola section - all state

Lilli Ouilette - violin - all state

Katarina Livermore - violin

Leila Paredes - violin

 

I wish them all the best of luck and hope they continue to shine long after they leave the high school music program.

 

One a side note:

Being a musician myself, I am always happy to see young musicians here in the Berkshires shine! It’s true, I play guitar in an indie rock band, but what many people don’t know is that my very first instrument was the clarinet. I played for several years and made it to my share of All-County bands in my hometown of Middletown, NY before eventually selling my soul to Rock n’ Roll and the likes of Jimmy Page and David Gilmour.

That’s pretty much where my affair with the clarinet came to an end. I picked up the guitar at age 12 and I’ve been playing that ever since.

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