Ohio Music Education Association invites Avon High Symphony Orchestra to perform at state

Avon High School Symphony Orchestra will perform Feb. 5 at the upcoming Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) conference at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland.

The Music Education Association conferences rotate between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati each year and feature music educators from throughout the state, according to a news release.

The Music Education Association is the third largest of the 52 federated state affiliates of NAfME, The National Association for Music Education.

Members of the Music Education Association are involved at all levels of music education, serving more than 1.8 million public school students in over 600 public school districts and 50 colleges and universities in Ohio, according to the release.

This is the first time any performing group from the Avon Local School district was invited to participate, the release said.

Jesse Martin, Avon director of orchestras, submitted a recording of Avon High School’s Symphony Orchestra for consideration.

The evaluation is done similar to a “blind audition” where music educators listen to the recordings, but are not given the name of the school or any other identifying information.

Avon is the only high school orchestra from the Cleveland area performing, and one of only three in the entire state, according to the release.

They will perform a 35-minute program in the morning conference.

The Avon High School Symphony Orchestra consists of the top strings and wind performers and includes 57 students.

They will perform the following:

• Marche Militaire from Suite Algerienne by Saint-Saens

• Night On Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky

• Trauer Symphony by Haydn

• The Valdres March by Hanssen

• Finlandia by Sibelius

Martin has been with the district for 22 years.

He created the orchestra program in the district in 2001.

For more information on the conference, go to www.omeapdc.com.