On Jan. 27, members of the MCS Elementary Choir, Junior High and High School Bands performed with their peers from neighboring school districts at the All County Music Festival. Students are selected for the event by their teachers based on NYSSMA scores and school ensemble participation.

This year the selected students included: 

MCS Elementary Choir: Katelynn Bates, Kaelynn Evans, Olivia Crescimano, Bryce Devlin, Mackenzie English, Alicia Hunt,  Brooke Masterson, Ava Narzymski, Trinity O’Toole, Claire Shultes, Gretchen Simeon and Rylee Tuttle.

MCS Junior High Band: Audrie Anteman, Cordelia Burgett, Samantha Croote, Salvatore Fileccia, Caleb Miller, Madalena Quinn, Max Shaul, Ethan Sherwood and Dezzeray Snyder.

MCS High School Band: Aleah Becker, Kaelyn Jensen, Ev Kelley, Lillian Kennedy, Aster McGiver, Matthew Quinn and Elysse Stanton.

Participation requires dedication. Students rehearse every other school day, learning musical notation, history and style. Multiple concerts throughout the year showcase their efforts.

For the All County Music Festival, students had the opportunity to rehearse with guest conductors on Friday and Saturday before taking the stage for their performances.

Max Shaul said the experience was fun. “I loved playing with so many different people,” Shaul recounted. “Although we only had 2 days to put it together as a group, I feel like we did amazing at the concert and I learned so much from it.”

Ev Kelly called the experience an extremely rewarding opportunity. 

“It gave me the amazing chance to grow how I think about music and playing music on a deeper level,” Kelly explained.  “Working with people from other schools and backgrounds was a great way to learn to collaborate with people who I had just met, in a short period of time.”

Aster McGiver says All County has  become a  favorite memory.

“Watching a room full of mostly strangers create a beautiful product at the end of 48 hours together was very moving, “McGiver said. “Everyone was so wonderful and so talented, and you could just tell how hard everyone had been working to bring their all to this concert!”