Scripps Ranch High String Orchestra earns top honors at National Orchestra Festival

The Scripps Ranch High School String Orchestra earned a Superior rating, the highest possible rating, at the American String Teachers Association National Orchestra Festival held at Abravanal Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah this March.

Their performance earned great acclaim from judges, parents, students and the chair of the event, Valerie Palimeri. This is the first time the 50-member orchestra has competed on a national stage, making its success even more impressive.

“Earning this puts us in the conversation as one of the best orchestra programs in the state, if not the country,” Director Russell Shedd said. “This is a huge honor for our kids, the program and the district.”

The National Orchestra Festival is an annual festival held in conjunction with the ASTA National Conference. In addition to receiving placement, ratings and comments based on their performance, each festival group receives personalized feedback and an educational clinic from leading clinicians and adjudicators in the industry.

Festival participants are also able to attend all 180 conference sessions and workshops at the ASTA National Conference, some of which are designed at a student level specifically for National Orchestra Festival attendees.

To qualify for the competition directors must submit recordings of their groups, as well as several years of programing, one year in advance of the festival. Only nine orchestras in the country were selected by ASTA to compete in this year’s competition.

The Scripps Ranch High School String Orchestra is part of the school’s music program and is open to students of all grade levels.