An honor that solidifies any practicing singer as a master musician, the All-State Choir auditions on Saturday crowned senior Shriya Pattangi as a state-recognized artist. 

Making this selective choir proves to be no small feat. 

“There are four rounds of auditions,” Pattangi said. “Only 50 singers are chosen to advance from the first round, and from there, it gets even more selective. The 50 are separated into voice parts, and the top fifteen of each make it to the mixed choir. From there, the top five auditionees advance from 4 different areas, making 20 auditionees in total. Of these 20, 9 sopranos and altos and 7 tenors and bases are selected from their sections to the All-State Choir.”

Despite its difficulty, this victory feels familiar to Pattangi, who was also a member of the All-State Choir last year.

“It feels great to advance twice in a row,” Pattangi said. “Because of my experiences last year, I think I was more prepared for All-State this year. There was a little pressure to live up to last year, but I think under the guidance of Ms. Ugolini, I was able to learn and hone my skills so I could make it again.”

Choir teacher Toni Ugolini stresses the importance of practice and dedication to Pattangi’s success.

“All students were given sheet music and rehearsal tracks with the voice parts and piano so they could practice on their own,” Ugolini said. “Then they would schedule times to come in and rehearse with me for feedback.  Shriya would come in several times a week and was super dedicated to the process.”

In Ugolini’s eyes, this process is beneficial for students despite whether they make All-State or not. 

“Iron sharpens iron, and I’m hopeful that seeing Shriya achieve this will show other students that this is an attainable goal and lead them to strive for that greatness as well,” Ugolini said. “It’s a hard goal to achieve, but even those who don’t make it to the All-State Choir grow so much as musicians, and that only makes them and our choir department better.”