The Fine Arts Department now has another medal added to its awards collection. Last Friday night, Wayland High School Orchestra under the direction of Jane Ezbicki brought home a Gold Medal from the MICCA (Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductor’s Association) Band and Orchestra Concert Festival.

Sixty-one students from our school traveled to Hopkinton High School to perform. Over a thousand musicians from schools in Massachusetts played in the festival this past weekend.

Receiving a Gold Medal from the festival is a rare honor, since orchestras and bands are evaluated based on tough criteria. Gold Medal groups are invited to perform at either Boston Symphony Hall on May 3rd or Mechanics Hall in Worcester on April 13th.

Wayland High School orchestra performed Russlan and Ludmilla Overture by Glinka, Pavane Op. 50 by Fauré, and Russian Easter Overture by Rimsky-Korsakov. Tally Levitz (class of 2010), Andrew Budnick (class of 2009), and Tully Cheng (class of 2008) had solos in these pieces, respectively.

As these are challenging pieces, members of the orchestra had to work hard to prepare them. Jasmine Masand (class of 2011), a violin player, explains the orchestra’s effort:

“[The pieces] required tons of advanced technical skills. During our rehearsals for MICCA, we were frustrated with many aspects of our playing. However, we really pulled ourselves together for this performance, and our hard work paid off.”

Garrett Levey (class of 2009), also a violin player, was surprised to hear the results:

“When I heard [the moderator] announce ‘Wayland High School Orchestra…Gold Medal’, I was in a state of utter shock.”

Levey further states “the most important aspect that made our performance a truly unique one was the energy from the students.”

Trevor Dixson (class of 2011), a cello player, is excited to be part of the Gold Medal orchestra:

“When the announcer told us we won the Gold Medal, we were ecstatic. We were all hugging each other, screaming, and cheering. It was awesome. The best part about it was that none of us expected [to win], which made our excitement 10 times higher.”

According to the MICCA website, it is their purpose to “encourage and support high performance standards by High School, Middle School, and Elementary School musical organizations.”

Masand expresses how valuable the festival experience was to our school’s orchestra:

“MICCA Festival was a great experience for our orchestra because we learned how to work together more efficiently. We put in so much time and effort into preparing—I am glad that we earned a Gold Medal.”

Richard Sebring, a parent of Daniel Sebring (class of 2009) and Associate Principal Horn of Boston Symphony Orchestra, chaperoned the trip to Hopkinton High School.

According to Sebring, “The talented Jane Ezbicki was at the peak of her form, energizing and exciting her ensemble to bring the music to life. The orchestra rose to enthusiastic applause from the audience and adjudicators alike.”

Wayland High School orchestra participated in the same festival two years ago and received a Silver Medal. Due to lack of staffing and budget constraints, it has been hard to maintain the quality of the orchestra to meet the standards of the festival. However, Ezbicki and her students worked hard and decided to participate in the festival once more.

Wayland High School orchestra meets only four times in an eight-day cycle, while many other festival participants meet daily.

Ezbicki, now in her last year of conducting and teaching at Wayland High School after 35 years of service, speaks about the orchestra’s accomplishments in a bare-bones environment:

“This is the result of the effort and enthusiasm of every single student, helping all of us to reach higher and higher together as a group. I am so happy that my students were rewarded for their hard work and extra time.”