Last week, four Harker middle school students were chosen to be members of statewide ensembles that will perform in February at the California All-State Music Education Conference. French hornist Kai-Ming Ang, clarinetist Jenny Shaw and flutist Anika Tiwari, all grade 8, were selected for the California Band Directors Association’s All-State Junior High School Concert Band. Trumpeter Leland Rossi, grade 7, was selected to play with the CBDA’s All-State Junior High School Jazz Band, making him the first Harker student to play for an all-state jazz band. Together, these four students represent the largest group of Harker middle school students ever selected to play for all-state ensembles.

“The audition is rigorous and requires great preparation and focus as they have to turn in a recording of scales and etudes,” said middle school music teacher Dave Hart. “These students were selected out of auditions from any seventh or eighth grader in the state of California, so it is quite an honor and opportunity.”