Six Columbus/Starkville string students were chosen to participate in the prestigious Belhaven University All-State Orchestra on Saturday, April 16, 2016. The 41 members of this orchestra were chosen by audition from across the state of Mississippi. The students chosen to participate were (from left) Charity James, Hope Bassett, Gracie Swartzendruber, Abbey Swartzendruber, Daniel Jones and Aidan Dunkelberg. All of these students have studied violin under the instruction of Diane Ford of Columbus and participated in the Columbus Suzuki Strings Orchestra and Ensemble. Charity is now studying cello under Griffin Brown of Kila, Montana, and Daniel is studying violin under Dr. Christopher Thompson of Tupelo. The All-State Orchestra was conducted by Maestro Ivan Del Prado. The concert included Elegy by Tchaikovsky, Concerto for Cello and String Orchestra in C Minor by Johann Christian Bach arranged by Henri Casadesus, Sinfonia No. 2 in D Major  by Felix Mendelssohn, and Two Tangos by Astor Piazzolla arranged by J. Orozco.

Some of our advanced ensemble students were able to play at the annual Pilgrimage Ball in Columbus MS again this year.

The Columbus Suzuki Strings Program is incredibly proud of our students who auditioned for All-State Symphony. Not only did everyone who auditioned get selected this year, but we virtually swept the table!

Charity James — 1st cello
Abby Swartzendruber — 2nd violin
Hope Bassett — 4th violin
Gracie Swartzendruber — 5th violin
Aidan Dunkelberg — 6th violin

And when you consider that Daniel Jones, who started in our program and played with us for many years until moving to Starkville, is 1st violin, we can say the Columbus program is very well represented with 5 of the top 6 violins and the top cello.

Congratulations on all of your hard work on your audition tapes! And good luck learning this year’s pieces and performing April 16 at Belhaven!

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