Students from Waterford’s Music Department enjoyed two exciting music-focused events this spring. Music students competed at the Solo and ensemble Music and Jazz Festival and participated in the Utah Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion.

SOLO AND ENSEMBLE MUSIC AND JAZZ FESTIVAL

Waterford hosted and competed in a successful Solo and Ensemble Music and Jazz Festival on Thursday, March 16th. The festival featured talented musicians from schools in our Region (Rowland Hall, Utah Military Academy, APA West Valley, APA Draper, DaVinci Academy, Paradigm, and Saint Joseph) who showcased their musical abilities in front of a panel of judges.

The event was a great opportunity for students to demonstrate their hard work and dedication to music. They performed a variety of pieces, ranging from classical to contemporary, and received feedback on their performance from experienced judges. We are thrilled to announce that several of our soloists and ensembles have advanced to the State Festival, which will take place on Saturday, April 29th at Provo High School.

The ensembles going to State are the Waterford chamber orchestra, two string quartets, one string quintet, one string sextet and the percussion ensemble. 

The soloists going to State are:

Mia J. ’23 – Soprano
Indiana M. ’24 – Soprano
Elyse L. ’23 – Soprano
Grant B. ’26 – Violin
Adrian W. ’24 – Violin
Lauren W. ’24 – Violin
Sarina S. ’25- Violin
Gustav G ’24. – Violin
Nathan K. ’24 – Viola
Gustav G. ’24 – Viola
Dalloway S. ’26 – Cello
Connor G. ’25 – Bass

This is a significant achievement. Congratulations to all the students who performed!

UTAH PERCUSSIVE ARTS SOCIETY DAY OF PERCUSSION

On Saturday, March 18, the Waterford School Percussion Ensembles traveled to Riverton High School to participate in the Utah Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion. Forty-eight high schools, middle schools, and universities showed up to compete. From Percussion Director Parker Swenson and Band Director Sam Wise:  “We unpacked Mr. Swenson’s Subaru and rolled our equipment past dozens of school buses and U-Hauls, and hundreds of students. Our small-but-mighty Middle School and Upper School ensembles played with great musicality and precision on their respective pieces, “West Winds” and “Vesuvius.” Although we did not walk away with the gold, our terrific percussion students got high marks and showed the Utah percussion community what we are made of.”