Lyndonville hosts Junior High Area All-State Music Festival with 300 student performers

This is first time in about 30 years an Orleans County school district hosted Area All-State

Photos by Tom Rivers

LYNDONVILLE – The Zone 2 Area All State Mixed Choir, featuring junior high students in the Rochester area, are conducted by Keith Ersing during a concert on Saturday at the Stroyan Auditorium in Lyndonville. In this photo they are performing, “Come and Go to That Land” by Brandon Boyd.

Zone 2 includes eight counties in western and central New York: Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, Monroe, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca and Wayne.

Lyndonville hosted the Junior High Area All-State Music Festival which included 300 student performers and over 1,300 people in attendance for two concerts. Lyndonville’s auditorium holds about 700 people so the festival had to be split into two different concerts.

The first concert featured the Area All State Symphonic Band, followed by the Area All State Treble Choir.

The second concert included the Area All State Mixed Choir, followed by the Area All State Symphony Orchestra.

Members of the Zone 2 Junior High Area All State Symphony Orchestra perform “Marriage of Figaro” on Saturday in Lyndonville. These students on the double bass, cello and other symphony orchestra instruments are all from the Rochester region.

The students in the different groups all auditioned in the spring and needed to perform for a judge to be selected for Area All State. Their district teachers also helped prepare them for the concert.

Provided photos: There were six students from Orleans County who performed on Saturday, including (Left) Madelyn Ingersoll of Lyndonville, alto in mixed choir, and Emily Kroll of Lyndonville, clarinet in the symphonic band. (Right) Lillian Olsen of Medina, left, played trumpet and Lauren Allis of Medina played the clarinet in the symphonic band.

Oscar Lopez of Medina was a bass in the mixed choir and Amber O’Kussik was a soprano in the treble choir.

The students were at Lyndonville from for rehearsals from 2 to 6 p.m. on Friday and then beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The concerts were at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. This photo shows the Area All State Treble Choir led by conductor Maureen Reilly with Gary Simboli as the accompanist.

Amy Erhard conducted the Area All State Symphonic Band. Erhard leads the Buffalo Wind Symphony. She has twice been nominated for the Grammy Music Educator Award.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Lyndonville school district superintendent, Dr. Heather Lyon, welcomes the crowd to the second concert. She praised the student performers, including the Area All State Mixed Choir next to her for their high levels of engagement in pursuing excellence as musicians.

The Area All State Symphony Orchestra takes the stage at Lyndonville. The group was conducted by Emily Greetham, who teaches orchestra at Orchard Park Central School. She also performs as a violinist in with Buffalo Opera Unlimited and other groups.