At Bishop Kelly, performing arts have often-times been overlooked compared to other 4A schools with 20 people in the BK Marching Band compared to schools like Ridgeview with more than 120 people. However, this does not mean that BK is short of talented musicians. Jacob Brotman, Colin Carpenter, and Hoyoon Song competed at the Idaho State Solo Festival and performed with the Idaho All-State Band and Orchestra in 2022. Jacob and Colin subsequently went on to win first place in their respective instruments beating many world-class musicians such as Jinho Kim of Timberline High School, who was a Finalist in the International Saxophone Academy’s Young Artist Competition and performed at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City.
This year, an equally talented group of students represented Bishop Kelly at the Idaho All-State Ensembles, a 4-day intensive musical experience where the best musicians from the state work with the best conductors in the nation. Please congratulate the following people for their fine achievements!
Sophia Puype (Treble Choir)
Virginia Xu (Mixed Choir)
Hoyoon Song (Concert Band)
Virginia Xu (Choir), Sophia Puype (Choir), and Hoyoon Song (Band) entered the festival with the Idaho State University’s Video Game Music Ensemble playing the soundtrack to Mario Kart while inviting students on stage to play Mario Kart before they sent us off into sectionals in order to maximize the three days we had before the concert. These sectionals and subsequent rehearsals were held all over the city of Pocatello from the grand halls of Idaho State University to the halls of Pocatello High School with the occasional visit to the Latter-Day Saints Temple for food.
Before arriving in Pocatello, Sophia Puype expressed some anxiety about the event, but was ultimately excited to learn “new skills, and meet new people.” When finding out that there would be eight-hour rehearsals a day, Virginia Xu also expressed some anxiety towards the event, but thankfully, these rehearsals were filled with opportunities for interaction between the musicians, which made the experience very enjoyable. After the rehearsals, musicians were required to go to every single concert to support their fellow musicians, which provided for some very enriching experiences as many people have never heard groups such as a jazz band perform but were blown away by the performance.
However, excellent memories do come with their fair share of chaos. First, the directors of the Treble and Mixed Choirs were not able to make many rehearsals due to flight problems. Eventually, the director of the Treble Choir canceled, prompting a supervising teacher to hastily learn the score each night until 3 AM! Their tireless efforts pulled off an excellent performance. In addition, on several occasions, the fire alarm was pulled which pushed the concerts back many hours as the emergency services had to ensure everything was alright. Thankfully all of the cases turned out to be accidents, and surprisingly, the last time All-State took place at ISU the same thing happened!
These challenges were eventually overcome with sensational, sold-out concerts. In fact, the standing ovation for the concert band performance lasted around five minutes with many musicians overcome with emotions on stage. Sophia, Virginia, and Hoyoon would like to applaud and thank Mrs. Cooper, the Director of Orchestra, Choir, and Pastoral Arts at BK who took the time to drive them to Pocatello, the rehearsals, and eventually back to Boise. All of the musicians had a blast and if you are a musician who is interested in doing All-State, please make sure you are eligible by being in a music class at BK and auditioning next October for the 2024 Idaho All-State Honor Ensembles set to be held at the Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa!
The Bishop Kelly Newspaper 