ALTON - The Alton High School Music Department has always ranked among the best in the State of Illinois. Recently, the Alton Music Department proudly represented the school at the 2023 Illinois Music Educators Association (ILMEA) All-State Festival. These students represent the top 2 percent of band, choir, and orchestra high school students in the state of Illinois.

These are Alton High's Music All-Staters:

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All-State Chorus:

Aaron Swanson, senior, 2nd year selected to All-State

All-State Honors Chorus:

Kyle Neace, senior, 2nd year selected to All-State

Matt Taylor, senior

All-State Honors Band:

Melanie Parker, flute, senior, 2nd year selected to All-State

All-State Orchestra:

Brody Macias, violin, senior, 2nd year selected to All-State

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Ethan Fox, viola, junior

Stephen Whiteside, cello, sophomore

Will Hussey, bass, senior, 2nd year selected to All-State

All-State Honors Orchestra:

Victor Humphrey, viola, senior, 3rd year selected to All-State

Wesley LeBrun, percussion, freshman

In addition, Jackson Clayton, senior, received Honorable Mention for his instrumental small ensemble musical composition titled A Thief's Price and attended sessions on composing and publishing music. This was Jackson’s first time attending the young composer's conference for high school students. He was nervous at first, “but everyone was so welcoming, and I was able to make more friends and get help from other people for music production. The composition course is pretty fun and I would recommend it to whoever would like to do composition."

Joanna Halliday, junior, was selected for a second year to attend the ILMEA Future Music Educators Seminar in conjunction with the Illinois Music Educators Conference (IMEC). Joanna plans to major in music education and said: “IMEC is by far one of the best opportunities I have had thus far in my music career. I made lifelong friends and learned so much about improving as a musician and furthering my journey towards teaching.”

AHS senior Victor Humphrey said of his experience in the 2023 ILMEA All-State Honors Orchestra “I really enjoyed our Honors Orchestra conductor, Jung-Ho Pak. I've worked with a lot of conductors and he may be my favorite, due to his energy and passion. It was a great way to cap off an amazing high school music career to spend time with my All-State peers from Alton High away from the daily grind. Looking back at the recordings of the Honors concert, I am in awe of what an amazing performance we were able to create, and I am so thankful that I got to go experience it again one more time. I really got to go out on a high note!”

The Wind Ensemble, Alton High School’s top band, was also selected to perform at this year's All-State Conference. This is the first time in over 30 years an Alton High School band has been selected to perform at All-State. The band went through a rigorous application process and was selected to represent our ILMEA District at the state level.

AHS Head Band Director Blake Korte said ILMEA was a huge honor for the wind ensemble and an experience the students won't soon forget.

"The students worked extremely hard and put on a fantastic concert which received a standing ovation from an audience of music educators from throughout the state," he said.

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