Top county musicians to take Ashland stage
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
ASHLAND — For the first time, Ashland District School will be the site of the Northern Maine Music Educators Association’s annual All-Aroostook Instrumental Festival later this week which will feature the best middle and high school musicians in The County.
“Even at our old school, we never hosted an All-Aroostook Festival,” said Jon Simonoff, music teacher at SAD 32. “The old school was quite a bit smaller than this school and we just couldn’t accommodate the number of music students that would attend the festival, especially before when both the choral and instrumental festivals were combined and held on one date. Now that the festival is split up — and we have a new school — we’re able to host it.
“We’re pretty proud to be the host school,” he said. “This is our chance to expose The County to the Ashland school and show how we work over here. This is a feather in our cap.”
The festival will be held Jan. 13-14 with a final concert scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday in the Ashland District School gymnasium. Admission is $10 for a family (parents and siblings only) not to exceed five tickets, $4 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens.
“There are 137 students from 12 county schools participating in the festival,” said Simonoff. “Every student who is participating had to audition for the festival; we truly have the best of the best.
“The audition process consisted of traveling to Houlton where the students had to play an audition piece and a couple scales and they were evaluated by two judges, and the highest-ranking scores were the ones who were accepted. Unfortunately not everyone made it, but those who did are among the best student musicians in the region.”
As in the past, guest conductors will work with both the middle and high school students. Pat Bragdon, music teacher at Presque Isle Middle School, will conduct the middle school band while Steven Orlofsky, a music teacher at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, will work with the high school musicians.
“The festival provides the students an experience that they cannot get any other way in The County,” said Simonoff, “both in the size of the group — for most schools — because the bands are usually bigger than most of the schools up here, plus the guest conductors are people who most of the students will have never seen before and they bring a wealth of experience and styles which will give the students a new — and hopefully enjoyable experience.”
At Saturday’s concert, both the middle and high school bands will each perform four songs.
“The County in general has a very, very strong tradition in music which I’ve found as I’ve worked up here, and what better place to see musicians from around The County working together than the All-Aroostook Festival,” said Simonoff, who hails from Skowhegan. “Though they’re students, they’re very talented and it should be a great concert. We invite everyone to come to Ashland to hear some of the region’s best musicians.”
