All-State Orchestra

On January 24, 2015, Josh had the opportunity to play with the All-State Orchestra.

This is a unique privilege for a sophomore.  It is an audition-based orchestra with players from all over the state.   It is mostly comprised of juniors and seniors, so Josh feels very blessed to be chosen for this incredible experience.

Now, I am going to play the role of a proud parent and brag just a little bit more.

Not only did this kid make it into the orchestra, but because of his audition, they put him as the 4th chair cellist.  Super proud mom moment for this gal.

I did not record the video/audio because I thought I read somewhere that they would be sending us a DVD.  I hope I did not read that wrong or I will be really mad at myself for not recording at least of portion of the concert.  It was phenomenal.  

They performed the Festive Overture by Shostakovitch and Symphony No. 4, mvts. 2 & 4 by Tchaikovsky.  I was in tears by the end of the concert.  It was so beautiful.

I am so impressed with this young man.  He had quite a cello-filled few days in preparation for this concert.  They practiced for three days straight.  Not only that, but as soon as the concert was over, we had to rush Josh to another audition for a chance to be a soloist with the Oquirrh Mountain Symphony.  It was a pretty stressful day and although he played extremely well for the audition, it was not his best performance.  He was a little sad about that, especially when we received word this week that he was not chosen as a soloist.  But that is okay.  We are chalking it up to experience, and there will be plenty more auditions and amazing things in the years ahead. :)