SYRACUSE — Several of the Wawasee Community School Corporation’s string orchestra students participated in the Indiana State School Music Association’s district solo and ensemble contest Saturday, Feb. 4, at Elkhart Central High School.
From Milford Middle School, sixth-grader Josalyn Kolberg received a gold medal for her viola solo. A seventh-grade string quintet of Amber Beer, Taylor Castro, Alissa Gill and Kelsey Harper (violins) and Kaitlynn Jackson, viola, also received gold medals.
Participating in solos from the Wawasee Middle School orchestras were Kaley Kuhaneck, string bass, and Georgia Wise, violin, who both received gold medals. A trio made up of eighth-grade violinists Tess Helfers, Norah Miller and Georgia Wise received a silver medal. A string sextet of violinists Taylor Cripe, Whitney DeLong, Allyson Eppert, Mariah Hurst, McKenzie Long and cellist Brynn Jamora scored a gold medal.
From Wawasee High School, violin soloist Cassidy Cannon received a silver medal, while violinists Kaitlin Graber and Kristin Martindale earned gold medals. Two string ensembles also achieved gold medal status — a string quartet of Kristin Martindale and Jessica O’Donnell, violins; Sophia Miller, viola; and Leeann Estrada, cello, performing the Lennon/McCartney hit “Eleanor Rigby;” and a string quintet of violinists Kasey Gunkel, Sydney Jaggers, Citlali Jimenez, Kristin Martindale and violist Robert Sopher, playing the Pentatonix arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”