Out of the five students from orchestra who auditioned for the Texas Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra, all five were accepted, giving the school a 100% acceptance rate.

“It’s definitely a great achievement for Liberty, especially in this region since we’re paired up with Prosper and Plano, it’s already really hard to make it into region, but to be able to take and make it into all states already a wonderful achievement for Liberty Orchestra program,” assistant orchestra director Victoria Lien said. “It says that we have a bunch of really talented players and really hard workers that are able to undergo so much pressure of three auditions that they have to go through with super competitive rooms and still be able to come up on top.”

Leading up to All-State auditions, students practiced pieces and excerpts to refine and enhance their skills.

“I practice a lot and, practiced slowly, steadily with my teacher a lot, a lot of lessons,” freshman Jacob Choi said. “I think it was just a lot of hard dedication and work that allow me to make it.”

Making it to All-State is nothing new to sophomore Kaeon Cho, who also made it last year and knew what to expect when going into her audition.

“There’s specific etudes and then there’s four pieces and you just have to practice those, basically,” Cho said. “I already made it last year so it’s not like a big deal or anything.”

For sophomore Nandika Chirala, making the All-State Orchestra was a first time experience, which she believes is due to the hard work she put in before going into her audition.

“I was really excited because we go to convention in February and that sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun and I’m happy that like all my hard work paid off,” sophomore Chirala said. “I didn’t make it last year, my hope was to just try my best and see where it would take me but I wasn’t really expected to make it.”

While junior Jonathan Peng is pleased with his results and hard work so far, he is already looking forward to what comes next as a part of this orchestra.

“I feel really proud of myself and that, through all the hard work I’ve put in over the last month or two that I feel really good I made it,” junior Jonathan Peng said. “So in a few weeks I think our orchestra directors will give us the music to make sure that we all know the music right before like on the first day that we get there and stay in February.”

The experience of preparing for auditions has taught the students a valuable lesson about hard work and given them the chance to grow as musicians.

“It feels really good because it feels like all the practice and the work I put in has paid off,” junior Geethika Bonthala said. “It was a good experience learning to prepare for an audition in such a short span of time.”

The following students were admitted to the 2018-2019 All-State orchestra:

Kaeon Cho, 10th grade violin, ranked 22

Jonathan Peng, 11th violin, ranked 49

Nandika Chirala, 10th grade violin, ranked 57

Geethika Bonthala, 11th grade violin, ranked 68

Jacob Choi, 9th grade viola, ranked 13