Thomas Ventimiglia, a member of the Natalia High School Band will perform with the Texas All-State ATSSB band in San Antonio, Saturday, February 11, 2023, at the Henry B. González Convention Center as part of the 2023 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention.
Thomas was chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive process held this year across the state at District, Region, and Area levels. Thomas is a (private) student of Clarisa De la Garza and plays at school under the direction of Sergio Mendez who is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, a 14,000+ member organization headquartered in Austin. This is his second time to perform as a member of an ATSSB All-State organization. Thomas is the child of Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Ventimiglia. He won 2nd chair Clarinet at Area which qualified him to State.
High school students selected to perform in the All-State concerts have competed through auditions to qualify at the state level. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. 1,875 students are selected through a process that began with over 70,000 students from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of 18 ensembles.
Texas Music Educators Association sponsors the Texas All-State competition. Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From this ranking, a select group of musicians advances from their Region to compete against musicians from other areas. The highest-ranking musicians judged at the ATSSB Area competitions qualify to perform in a ATSSB All-State music group. These All-State students participate in four days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors during the TMEA Clinic/Convention. Their performances for thousands of attendees bring this extraordinary event to a close. For the All-State concert and conductor information, go to the Performances section of www.tmea.org/convention
8 from Mustang Band compete at Area, one advances to All-State
Area students were selected to perform in the TSSB All State Band during their performance at Alice High School last weekend January 7 during the Area Competition.
Competing and their placing are as follows:
Thomas Ventimiglia – 2nd Chair Clarinet State Qualifier
Kate Robinson – 2nd Chair Bass Clarinet
Ricardo Olivares – 5th Chair Trumpet
Austyn Rodriguez – 18th Chair Trumpet
Skylyn Kutzer – 17th Chair
Anthony Guevara – 8th Chair Trombone
Anthony Garza – 5th Chair Euphonium
Abraham Mendez – 3rd Chair Tuba
Sergio Mendez got sick and was not able to audition.
The All-State performance will be held as part of the annual TMEA Clinic/Convention, February 8–11, 2023. Over 30,000 people from Texas and around the world are expected to attend over 290 workshops, 100 performances, and visit over 1,200 exhibit booths at the nation’s largest music educator’s convention. For more information go to www.tmea.org/convention
6 Lytle Band members compete at Area
Results are as follows from the Lytle High School Band auditions at Area last weekend in Alice according to LISD Band Director Joshua Chesshir.
Cambri Davila – 9th chair Flute
Citlali Ferreira – 10th chair Flute
Melanie Perez – 17th chair Clarinet
Jose Gomez – 2nd chair Contra Clarinet
Elijah Martinez – 9th chair Alto Sax
Stefan Grigsby – 4th chair French Horn
8 from Devine Band audition at All-Area
We had Jordan Erxleben, Abner Flores, Juan Hernandez – all clarinets; Isaiah Cardenas – alto sax; Alvin Mann – trumpet; Josh Mills, Maudie Cortez – trombone; and Carlo Rivera – Tuba
“Unfortunately I don’t have any students who advanced to the 4A All-State Symphonic Band this year. We had (8) Area Band members who auditioned, and this time around we did not have anyone who ranked high enough to earn a chair to advance,” said Jeff Miller, DISD Director of Bands.
“We have had several young, very talented students show great potential and I’m confident there will be some that will advance in the future.”
“The Devine Band has been fortunate to have had several students within the 4A All-State Band in the past and we are very proud of our students who participated in the process this year earning chairs in the All-Region and All-Area levels!” said Miller.
