MINT HILL, NC – It’s been an eventful fall for Queen’s Grant’s music department as several students attended the 43rd Annual Choral Festival at Gardner Webb University and seven students were selected to practice and play with two different regional honors bands.
On October 25, Queen’s Grant High School Director of Music Ensembles Chad Turner took a dozen choral students to Gardner Webb University for their 43rd Annual Choral Festival. “My students joined about 150 others in a day-long clinic that culminated in an evening concert sung in conjunction with the Gardner Webb Chorale,” explains Turner. “It was an amazing opportunity for my students and was our second time being involved.”
On November 17th Turner will travel with three students to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, where they will participate in the 41st Annual Winthrop Invitational Band Clinic. Winthrop’s annual Invitational Band Clinic is composed of three bands of high school performers selected from a list of director nominations.
Selected from over 350 nominations submitted by 50 schools from four different states to participate in the clinic were sophomore bass clarinet Nathan Verret, senior euphonium Walker Mcmurry and senior trombone Micah Burkheimer.
“This clinic is very prestigious in that they bring in some very recognizable clinicians from all over the country to conduct the two honor bands that will be seated this year,” says Turner. “The students will participate in rehearsals, masterclasses, small ensembles and two large ensembles over about three days working on their musical technique, musicianship, and overall musical performance skills.”
On Friday, December 9, six QGHS students will travel to the campus of UNC Charlotte for a 2-day clinic with about two hundred other local high school musicians from the area. The students will again participate in 2 days of large ensemble rehearsals and masterclass sessions working on their technique and musicianship.
Sophomore trombone Andrew Jewell, junior bass clarinet Payton Fuge, sophomore tenor saxophone Tyler Korinek, sophomore bass clarinet Nathan Verret, senior euphonium Walker Mcmurry and senior trombone Micah Burkheimer were selected from about 300 nominations submitted by a number of local high schools in and around the UNCC campus area.
“I could not be more proud of all these students as they continue to put their very best foot forward representing themselves, the music department and QGHS as a whole,” says Turner. “It’s always a huge thrill to see any of my students perform and truly enjoy themselves, so I try my best to give them all the opportunities I can.”
You can catch Verret, Mcmurry and Burkheimer in action at Winthrop University on Saturday, November 19, at 3:00 pm in Byrnes Auditorium. Jewell, Fuge, Korinek, Burkheimer, Mcmurry and Verret will play in UNCC’s auditorium at 5:30 on December 10. For more information on Queen’s Grants music offerings and all the local charter high school has to offer, visit queensgranthigh.org.
