HELENA – A quintet of young musicians from Helena have been selected to participate in the prestigious All-Northwest performing group this week.
All-Northwest is put on every two years by the National Association for Music Education, Northwest Division. This year the event is held in Portland, Oregon.
Fisher Friend – bassist, Celia Quintana – violinist, Sonja Severtson – violinist and Joseph “Lenny” Triem- cellist from Helena High and Ali McAllister – bassist from Capital High will be attending this year.
The event brings together the best young musicians from Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.
Only occurs every two years, All-Northwest is highly competitive to get a spot with more than 4,000 applicants in 2019.
The audition process included musical excerpts that are typically performed by professional adult orchestras.
The students say they’re excited to be able to perform at this level and think it’s awesome 5 kids from a small town like Helena are all going this year.
“It’s incredible! It just happened to work out that we have a bunch of great musicians here all at the same time. To be able to go– not only myself but with some of my good friends to Portland is pretty great,” said Severtson.
The students also wanted to thank their orchestra director Zack Harris for his teaching and support.
Mr. Harris, however, said all credit should go to these amazingly talented, dedicated and brilliant students.
“I wish I could take credit for it, but these guys do all the work at home and I’m so proud of them,” added Harris.
On Friday February 15 the students will meet with a guest conductor for three days of rehearsals culminating in a gala concert.
