Students from Elizabethtown Area High School (EAHS) recently participated in orchestra festivals.

Sarah Heinz on violin and Grayson Marz on string bass attended the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) District 7 Orchestra Festival from Feb. 8 to 10 at Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg. The event featured guest conductors Chung Park, director of orchestras at St. Olaf College, and Chelsea Gallo, assistant conductor of the Florida Orchestra. More than 130 students representing 52 high schools across Lancaster, York, Dauphin, Lebanon, Adams, and Berks counties participated, having been selected through a rigorous audition process that required them to learn their part for a professional-level piece of orchestra music as well as scales.

EAHS students also showcased their musical abilities at the Lancaster-Lebanon Music Educators Association (LLMEA) County Orchestra Festival. Held on Jan. 20 at Ephrata High School, the event brought together more than 200 students from schools across Lancaster and Lebanon counties. The students were selected through the PMEA District Orchestra audition process or placed in the festival through their director's nomination in a round robin format.

Sarah and Grayson participated, along with Kathryn Armstrong, Cassidy Carl, Emily McElroy, and Cooper Torborg, violin; Jake Dunn and Katie Kimmel, viola; Laura Kleis, Olivia Nilsen, Makayla Weaver, and Abby Witmer; Connor Denlinger and Cole Martz, bass; Dominic Hemsch and Gabe Rottet, percussion; and Marley Stauffer, bassoon.

The guest conductors included Hayden Denesha, who serves as the director of instrumental studies at Elizabethtown College; Matthew Radspinner, the high school orchestra director at Williamsport High School; and David Pimentel, the middle school orchestra director at Pennbrook Middle School.

Rich Winey is the orchestra director at EAHS.