Congratulations to the following students selected to a Region 25 All-Region Orchestra! Students listed with an asterisks (*) have qualified to record for All-State.

Symphony Violin

Sophia Wang 1*, Steven Lu 2*, Nina Huang 3*, Lindsey Cho 8*, Jaeha Jung 11*, Ray You 15*, Raghu Talla 16*, Tarun Ramji 17*, Grace Tam 23*, Alan Zhou 30, Sarah Chen 33, Matt Ogata 37

Philharmonic Violin

Kaori Shioyama 41, Marcel Yu 45, Manasvini Komandur 47, Kylie Hung 49, Chris Wong 55, Julie Jung 58, Linden Ni 59, Emily Lou 75, Aaditya Dhar 79, Sonya Shah 80, Dana Kim Alternate

Viola Symphony

Ashish Samson 1*, Ian Chen 2*, Laura Tan 3*, Christopher Lee 4*, Nathan Wu 5*, Randy Guo 13*, Anele Saige 16*

Viola Philharmonic

Siya Patel 27, Charles Cheung 31

Cello Symphony

Derek He 6*, Henry Zhang 10*, Amir Suhail 11*, Ian Wang 15*

Cello Philharmonic

Leslie Looi 18, Teddy Xiong 22, Andrew Napier 27, Maddox Lin 28, Eric Pan-Wang 31, Eric Shi Alternate

Symphony Bass

Claire Sasaki 4*, Aidan Wang 5*, Chelsea DeRoach 7*

Philharmonic Bass

Lucas Daniel 19

The Plano West Symphony Orchestra is pleased to be named the “state champion” 2023 TMEA Honor Full Orchestra! In February, the PWSH Symphony will perform at the TMEA Convention in San Antonio, marking the program’s 9th performance at TMEA.

The success we have at Plano West is absolutely rooted in the excellent music instructions our students receive at Jasper, Shepton, Rice, Robinson, Renner, Frankford, and our community of private music instructors.

We also congratulate the other finalists on their wonderful performances, each conclusively demonstrating that music education is alive and well in Texas!

Dear Students,

Below, you will find a link to find your orchestra placement for next school year.  Students are listed by student ID number in order of last name, and it does not reflect your placement within your ensemble. I suggest you use Ctrl-F to find your number.

The nature of auditions is that some people are happy with their placements, but others feel some disappointment.  Please understand that Mrs. Gross and I spent a great deal of time working through the audition results to guarantee that everyone is in the group that will allow them to succeed, but also to become better musicians.  Most importantly, please don’t let the results define you as a musician or as a person.  In the end, none of this matters that much. But the work that you will do (or not do) means everything about who you will become as a person. In other words, grow where you are planted.

If you’re disappointed, please consider a few points:

1. The level of competition at West is high.  Really high.  The upside of this is that all of our orchestras really play beyond their apparent level.   For example, the third orchestra at West is playing at a level much higher than the top orchestra at most schools in Texas.  Regardless of the group you’re in, it is going to be good.

2. It is totally normal to be in a “lower” group at West than you were in at Shepton or Jasper. Juniors, remember that you were auditioning against seniors with more experience and against talented players from the other high school.  Believe me, though, that the level of music we will be playing in the groups will not in any way be a step back from what you are accustomed to.

Later in the summer, counselors will let us know if there are conflicts in your schedule. Mrs. Gross and I will work those out for you – if there’s something we need to discuss with you in that regard, we will send you an email or call.

Remember that this upcoming year, every student may elect to take orchestra for honors credit. Be sure to communicate this with your counselor – at the beginning of the year, we will fully review the requirements so you can make your final decision.

I’m so excited to be back to “normal” next year, and I’m so glad we’ll get to make music together again!

RESULTS

Violin: Lindsey Cho, Jessica Ding, Sua Bae, Sophia Wang, Tarun Ramji

Viola: Ian Chen, Christine Kim, Christopher Lee

Cello: Derek He, Eric Pan-Wang

Piano: Alena Zhang

Congratulations to the following students who have earned a place in the 2021 Region 25 All-Region Orchestras. Students with a * next to their name have advanced to the next round of the All-State process.

Violin

Symphony

Sophia Wang * – 2, Tarun Ramji* – 3, Sua Bae* – 4, Lindsey Cho* – 5, Brian Jung* – 8, Raghu Talla* – 17, Julia Duan* – 19, Jessica Ding* – 26, Nathan Ma – 29, Sara Nakagawa – 30, Sarah Chen – 32, Alan Zhou – 33

Philharmonic

Brian Zhou – 43, Noa Reddick – 44, Matthew Ogata – 50, Tegan Yao – 63, Luke Liu – 70, Manasvini Komandur – Alternate 3, Angelina Ehara – Alternate 4

Viola

Symphony

Ian Chen* – 1, Christine Kim* – 2, Laura Tan* – 4, Ashish Samson* – 5, Christopher Lee* – 6

Philharmonic

Charles Cheung – 23, Evan Wu – 24, Andrew Zhigalskiy – 32, Anele Saige – Alternate 1

Cello

Symphony

Derek He* – 1, Eric Pan-Wang* – 3, Henry Zhang* – 4, Michael Cao* – 7, Jason Xu* – 14, Ian Wang* – 16

Philharmonic

Leslie Looi – 21, Eric Shi – 26, Snaeha Shriram – 29

Bass

Symphony

George Meredith* – 7, Aiyana Armstrong* – 9

Piano

Philharmonic

Alena Zhang* – 2

Are you here to complete your beginning of year paperwork? CLICK HERE

This year, auditions will be conducted entirely through Google Classroom. Please join Audition Google Classroom using join code: GLTNNUX

Audition music and tutorial videos will post on March 1, and audition videos are due April 11. If you have any issues joining the Google Classroom, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Mr. Ross at [email protected]

Congratulations to the following Plano West All-State Musicians!

Violin: Katie Chang (2 Symphony), Jessica Ding (65 Philharmonic), Sua Bae (71 Phiharmonic), Priscilla Lee (101 Sinfonietta)

Viola: Arman Deendar (7 Symphony), Christine Kim (41 Sinfonietta)

Cello: Joscelynn Palen (19 Philharmonic), Matthew Lin (41 Sinfonietta)

Bass: Karthik Iyer (29 Sinfonietta)

TO MAKE AN ONLINE DONATION, CLICK HERE

Dear Plano West Orchestra Families,

I hope that in this difficult time, your families are navigating the many challenges that the world is throwing at us. In so many ways, our lives have been turned upside down. But regardless of whether your child is attending school remotely or face to face, I know you have seen your child’s teachers adapt and rise to the occasion to continue providing an excellent education and meaningful experiences.

In support of our orchestra teachers, the Plano West Orchestra Boosters are establishing a check-writing fundraiser campaign. As you know, this year’s orchestra fee was reduced to only $20 – an amount that covers only the most basic supplies for orchestra. This amount does not provide room in the budget to purchase additional classroom supplies and gear.

Mr. Ross and Mrs. Gross have provided a wish list to the boosters, and we hope you can do your part to help fund it. They are hoping to have a permanent “recording studio” setup installed in the orchestra room. This project will require hanging four high quality microphones from the orchestra room’s ceiling and running these in to a recording device. This year, they hope to tie this in with the Zoom calls to provide the students at home with quality sound from the in class players. But long term, this will allow the orchestra to be quickly recorded in class. Immediately after recording, they will be able to play back the recording and evaluate it for areas to improve. Previous methods to do this were either extremely time consuming or yielding a low quality recording.

We understand that everyone may not be in a position to contribute. However, if you are, we ask that you consider making a gift to the Plano West Orchestra to help their teachers provide the best possible experience for our children. The Plano West Orchestra Boosters are a 501(c)3 organization, and your donation is tax deductible to the extent provided by tax law. When you donate, we will acknowledge your donation with a thank you letter and receipt to serve as a record of your gift. Many corporations also match donations made to 501(c)3 organizations, so be sure to check. If we need to complete any paperwork to help that along, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Thank you for your consideration! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. All contributions should be made out to “Plano West Orchestra Boosters” and may be mailed to the address below. Alternately, visit planowestorchestra.com and donate through the CheddarUp link on the front page. Our goal is to fully fund the wish list by Friday, November 6, 2020.

Sincerely,

Ritu Agrawal

PWSH Orchestra Boosters President

Mail Contributions To

Plano West Orchestra Boosters

c/o Treasurer Yan Cao

5601 W. Parker Road

Plano, TX 75093

Congratulations to the following students who have earned a place in the 2020 Region 25 All-Region Orchestras. Students with a * next to their name have advanced to the next round of the All-State process.

Violin

3. Sua Bae*, 6. Katie Chang*, 11. Jessica Ding*, 14. Jessica Shin*, 21. Priscilla Lee*, 29. Sherry Rui, 30. Meiyi Lu, 35. Annie Wong, 38. Rohan Thomas, 41. Govardhan Poondi, 44. Victor Tsao, 45. Lidice Sanabria, 46. Jaquelynn Palen, 50. Noa Reddick, 55. Nicholas Li, 56. Nathan Ma, 59. Christin Park, 60. Gina Jeon, 64. Sara Nakagawa, 70. Luke Liu

Viola

4. Arman Deendar*, 8. Christine Kim*, 24. Sarah Bagheri, 26. Kelly Castellano, 29. Sharon Xue, 32. Evan Wu

Cello

4. Joscelynn Palen*, 5. Michael Cao*, 6. Marlon Florez*, 7. Matthew Lin*, 13. Wesley Geng*, 15. Emily Yeh*, 24. MIranda Ye, 25. Akash Naik, 28. Julian Pak

Bass

3. Karthik Iyer*, 6. Cade Medearis*, 7. Aiyana Armstrong*, 9. Arnold Venter*, 11. Nima Sadri*

Piano

4. Michael Chyobotov*