DHS band ready for the spring

The Douglas High School music department is swinging grandly into the spring season with a host of honors.

Music Director Bill Zabelsky reported that students Cameron Frogget, Marlan Jongsma, Matthew Karr, Cody Lee, Hannah Maxwell and Matthew Stockton made all-state choir, which will be in Las Vegas in April.

The six students shared the Northern Zone Nevada Music Education Association's honor choir concert Feb. 24 in Lovelock with students Katie Grady, Quentin Knowles, Gracie LeVal, Emily Meeks, Kevin Owens, Nicole Rinasz, Sedona Schat and Jacob Swisher.

Members of the honors band performed Feb. 3 in Fallon, including students Logan Peterson, Tiffany Thomas and Clay Sedgwick on the clarinet, and Daniel Armbrust on the horn.

"Those kids who made honor band and honor choir were selected out of our zone and had to audition," Zabelsky explained.

On March 4, the Pride of Carson Valley took high marks at NZNMEA's high school band festival in Carson City. Zabelsky said the concert band was one of three bands, out of about a dozen, to garner a superior rating. The DHS jazz band also earned a superior rating.

"They're a great bunch of kids. They always rise to the occasion," said Zabelsky. "This is the 23rd year in a row that the Douglas High band received a superior rating."

The high school's solo and ensemble artists will be competing in the regional festival this Saturday in Carson City.

Those students are Cody Lee, who received a superior rating in alto sax solo, Stockton, who received a superior rating in male vocal solo, and the school's superbly rated Madrigal singers.

Later this spring, the public can look forward to concerts at home. The DHS choral concert is 7 p.m. May 13 in the commons area, and the DHS band concert is 7 p.m. May 20 in the commons.

Up first, though, is the district's third annual Bandtastic concert, 7 p.m. March 23 in the high school gym. The event includes all Valley bands, elementary, middle and high school.

For more information, visit www.douglasmusic.net.