Livermore Music Ensembles Win Top Honor At National Festival

LIVERMORE, CA — Livermore High School’s eight musical ensembles won the Festival Sweepstakes Award, the top honor at the 2024 Worldstrides OnStage Heritage Musical Festival in Anaheim.

LHS’s band, orchestra and choir ensembles prepared for several months with instrumental music teacher and visual and performing arts department chair, Justin Enright and vocal music teacher Brendan Lodge. They also attended mentoring sessions with music professors from UC Irvine, who provided feedback on practice performances.

After two days of competition against 35 other ensembles, the Livermore teams won a total of 23 awards, including six individual solo awards, and the Instrumental and Festival Sweepstakes Awards.

“The students performed with passion and excitement,” Enright said in a statement. “Multiple adjudicators mentioned that what they most appreciated about our students was their undeniable love for music. That’s all we can ask for!”

After the competition, students, parents, and teachers attended a private awards ceremony at Disneyland, where they received the following awards:

Overall Awards

• Festival Sweepstakes - Livermore High School Music Department
• Instrumental Sweepstakes - Justin Enright, Livermore Instrumental Music
• Outstanding Orchestra Group (Top Overall Orchestra Score) - Honors Chamber Orchestra
• Outstanding Band Group (Top Overall Band Score) - Honors Jazz Band

Instrumental Awards

• First Place Percussion Division - Concert Percussion Ensemble (Gold Award)
• First Place Chamber Orchestra Division - Honors Chamber Orchestra (Gold Award)
• First Place String Orchestra Division - String Orchestra (Gold Award)
• First Place Jazz Band Division - Honors Jazz Band (Gold Award)
• First Place Concert Band Division - Concert Band (Silver Award)
• First Place Concert Band Division - Honors Symphonic Band (Gold Award)

Instrumental Adjudicator Awards (92 points or higher)

• Honors Chamber Orchestra
• Percussion Ensemble
• Honors Jazz Band 1
• Honors Symphonic Band

Maestro Awards (Outstanding Solo Awards)

• Tu Han Huynh (Vibes, Honors Jazz Band)
• Michael Zhang (Piano, Honors Chamber Orchestra)
• Connor Chu (Tenor Sax, Honors Jazz Band)
• CJ Scorsonelli (Bass Clarinet, Honors Symphonic Band)
• Tanmay Patki (Vocalist, Honors Jazz Band)
• Francis Nguyen (Pianist, Choir Accompanist, Honors Jazz Band)

Choir Awards

• Second Place Chamber Madrigal Division - Chamber Choir (Gold Award)
• Second Place Mixed Choir Division - Mixed Choir (Gold Award)
• Adjudicator Award (95 points or higher) - Livermore Choir Ensembles (Mixed and Chamber)

The ensembles will perform at the April 17 Livermore Valley Education Foundation’s Make Time for Music Festival of Bands and their May 22 spring concert at the Bankhead Theater.