Bishop Gorman’s Bryce Grove ‘25 and William Lefebvre ‘27 participated in the symphony at Nevada’s All State musical performances on Feb. 1.
All State is a collection of the best high school musicians in Nevada. To qualify, one must audition and be selected by a panel of judges. Lefebvre said that during the tryout process, “[the judges] give you two pieces, and you have to practice them and some scales you need to know for the audition.” William Lefebvre, who plays the trumpet, played in the Nevada All State band for his first time.
Those auditioning are under lots of pressure, but get plenty of time to prepare. According to Grove, musicians receive “up to about a month and a half prior” to auditions to prepare your piece. Grove, who has been playing the violin since middle school, participated for his second and final time as a high schooler.
The process of preparing for All State is grueling, but rewarding. Lefebvre said, “The days were long, it was 8:00 [am]-5:00 [pm] two days in a row.” Musicians practice nine hours two days in a row, learning not only their pieces, but different parts of the pieces as well. For his preparation process, Grove said that he was “trying to practice as constantly as I can, taking the music slowly, listening to it as much as possible, but not over practice, because that causes risk for injury.”
Playing at a higher level gave them the opportunity to play some of the most famous and difficult pieces in the classical musical genre. Some pieces the orchestra played were Baron Cimetiere’s Mambo, The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship, The Story of the Kalendar Prince and Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, which Grove was ecstatic about “Scheherazade is one of the greatest, greatest romantic period classical pieces ever composed, it is incredible.” He described this as an iconic piece that had been on his goal list to play in a group for years.
Now that All State is over, Lefebvre, one of the top twelve trumpet players in the state, prepares for next year. Grove, who will be graduating, has mixed emotions, feeling “definitely accomplished, but a little bittersweet.”
Both musicians from Gorman had a great time performing at the concert. Overall, they both agreed that the best part was being able to play at a high level with the best musicians across the state. They also got the opportunity to connect with esteemed conductors, such as Farkhad Khudyev, director of the University of Texas Orchestra, and famous collegiate conductor Randall Coleman, who is the band director at the University of Tennessee.
