2022 Darien Young Composers Concert

Attention Young Composers!  The Music Department of the Darien Public Schools will be sponsoring the 22nd annual Young Composers Concert on Wednesday, April 6th at 6:30pm in the Darien High School Auditorium.  This program is open to all students currently enrolled in the Darien Public Schools.  It is a great opportunity for students to compose their own original music and share it with an audience.  Please read the guidelines below and speak to your school music teacher if you have any questions.  Good luck!

Guidelines and Rules

• Compose an original song!  All compositions music be student-created, but may have the guidance of a teacher or parent.  See the checklist on the entry form for assessment criteria.

• Submit a Google Form (link below) and upload a digital file of a live video recording and a copy of the composition/written representation of the piece on or before Monday, March 14th.

• A committee will review the compositions and notify students who are accepted.

• Selected composers must perform their composition at the concert.

Click here  for a copy of the 2022 Young Composers flyer.

Click here  for the Google Form to upload the required information and enter your composition.

Darien elementary student wins international piano competition

Christopher Li, a 4th grader at Hindley Elementary School, came in First Place at the 2021 Piano Star International Competition.  The event was live-streamed on December 11, 2021.  Christopher performed in Amateur Group B, competing against 37 players from 13 different countries. The competition was judged by professional pianists and college professors. After performing in several preliminary rounds, he performed Golliwog’s Cakewalk by Debussy in the Grand Finals.  Christopher was awarded $200 in prize money.  He dedicated his performance and victory to his grandfather, who passed away unexpectedly in 2021.  Says Christopher, “My Grandpa is the most loving person I know.  I know he can hear me whenever I play.”

A video of his performance is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbGsJIp6TX4

This was Christopher’s first competition.  He has been studying piano for 3 years with piano teacher Li-Pi Hsieh.  Colleen Thompson, Director of Music for the Darien Public Schools, spoke with Christopher and his parents Eric Li and Anh Tang after learning about his victory.  They shared that Christopher first became interested in the piano after taking a keyboarding class at Darien Town Hall.  Anh noticed that after only a short time being exposed to the instrument, Christopher was playing beautifully on his keyboard at home.  He has perfect pitch, and the uncanny ability to memorize music quickly.  He loves playing piano - he is especially drawn to composers from the Romantic period like Debussy and Chopin - and practices 1 to 2 hours per day.

Christopher is thankful for his music teacher at Hindley Elementary School, Mrs. Knapp, for inspiring him with the “beautiful music, songs and dances,” in music class every week.  He is also grateful to his violin teacher Ms. Hanley for teaching him “the beauty of the violin and nurturing his musicality over the year,” and to Ms. Minnis for giving him an opportunity to perform with the Advanced Chamber Orchestra at Darien High School over the summer.  In addition to playing piano and violin, Christopher enjoys playing tennis and chess, doing puzzles, and hiking with his mom.  Christopher looks forward to competing in more piano competitions and hopes to perform in his first live competition in Hartford in February.

Join Darien Music for Youth

 Be an Arts Hero! 

Join as a 2021-2022 Darien Music for Youth Member

Darien Music for Youth is a 501c3 organization whose sole mission is to enrich arts education in the Darien Public Schools.  Music for Youth needs your support more than ever to fund curricular programs and live performances, including a new curricular program called The Blues and Beyond, the band festival featuring the world famous Dallas Brass, and more!  

See the flyer or visit https://darienmusicforyouth.wordpress.com/ to find out how to donate and get involved.  Thank you in advance for your support!

 

End of the Year Concerts and Events

 Darien Elementary chorus

The Darien Elementary Chorus included students from all 5 elementary schools, rehearsing over zoom before school once per week under the direction of Angela Hudak, Rebecca Parnoff, and Kathleen Theisen.  They met together for the first time on June 4th and recorded a concert video.  Click here to watch!

MMS Orchestra

The 6th, 7th and 8th grade orchestras and the MMS Rock Orchestra under the direction of Austin Scelzo released recorded concert videos.

• Click here to watch 6th Grade Orchestra perform Post Malone's Sunflower
  
• Click here to watch 7th Grade Orchestra perform Fly Me To the Moon
  
• Click here to watch 8th Grade Orchestra perform Wellerman
  
• Click here to watch Rockestra perform AC/DC's Back in Black
  
• Click here to watch Rockestra perform Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit
  

Elementary Band and Orchestra

See below to watch more elementary band and orchestra concerts, including the Hindley Band and Holmes Band and Orchestra under the direction of Krista DiPietro, the Ox Ridge, Royle and Tokeneke Bands under the direction of Colin Walters, and the Ox Ridge Orchestra under the direction of Rowan Whitesell.

• Click here to watch the Hindley Spring Band Concert
  
• Click here to watch the Holmes Spring Band and Orchestra Concert
  
• Click here to watch the Ox Ridge Spring Band Concert
  
• Click here to watch the Royle Spring Band Concert
  
• Click here to watch the Tokeneke Spring Band Concert
  
• Click here to watch the Ox Ridge Spring Orchestra Concert
  

Royle 2nd Grade Musical

Kathleen Theisen and the Royle 2nd Grade Class produced the virtual musical Journey Into Outer Space.  Click here to watch!

Hindley Students Perform Beethoven

Kathy Knapp and the students at Hindley learned about and performed the music of Beethoven in conjunction with our curricular theme.  

• Click here to watch Kindergartener Christina Filewych perform Ode to Joy
  
• Click here to watch 3rd Grader Christopher Li perform Moonlight Sonata
  
• Click here to watch Christopher Li perform Piano Sonata Opus 49, No 2 Mvmt 1
  
• Click here to watch Christopher Li perform Piano Sonata Opus 49, No 2 Mvmt 2

MMS 7th Grade Band Performs at 8th Grade Certificate Ceremony

Thank you to Matt Curley and the 7th Grade Band for performing at the 8th Grade Certificate Ceremony (and for MMS music teachers Jim Carter, Joel Knecht and Austin Scelzo for rounding out the low brass section!  It was great to have the students process in to a live version of Pomp and Circumstance!

Performance videos and DHS music student honors

 The DPS Music Department performs Ode to Joy

This year's music department curricular theme is Beethoven and Friends.  Check out this compilation video of students from all 7 schools performing Beethoven's Ode to Joy: Click here for Ode to Joy

Elementary Strings Virtual Concerts

Students from the Holmes, Hindley, and Tokeneke strings program performed virtual concerts:

• Hindley 3rd Grade Strings Spring concert 

• Hindley 4th and 5th Grade Orchestra Spring Concert 

• Holmes Beginning Violin Virtual Recital

• Holmes 3rd Grade Strings Spring Concert 

• Tokeneke 3rd Grade Strings Spring Concert 

• Tokeneke 4th and 5th Grade Orchestra Spring Concert 

• Tokeneke 4th Grade Beginning Violin Spring Concert

More Virtual Concerts

Students from the Darien 5-6 Grade Jazz Lab perform Jazz Lab Blues written by their teacher Matt Curley and arranged by the students!

• Click here for Jazz Lab Blues
  

Students from Mr. Scelzo's MMS Rockestra perform Aerosmith's Walk This Way!

• Click here for Walk This Way

Students from Mrs. Parnoff's 5th grade music classes competed with jets flying overhead and construction vehicles to perform We Won't Stop Dreaming by Pinkzebra!

• Click here for We Won't Stop Dreaming

DHS Music Students Selected for Regional, State and Local Festivals

21 students from the Darien High School Band, Choir and Orchestra were selected by audition to perform in the 2021 CMEA Western Region Festival:

• Western Region Band:  Matthew Taylor, Madchen Carrier, Anna Schorr, Adil Shahzad, Owen Wagner, Frank Drugge, Jose Echeverria, Shea Ehrhard, Grant McIntyre, Jack Kennedy, Andrew Huffman
• Western Region Choir:  Henry Kanlian, Ellie Gaaserud, Riley O'Connor, John Raskopf
• Western Region Orchestra:  Margaret Russel, Conan Thibodeau, Michael Dong, Sydney Du
• Western Region String Orchestra:  Quinn Taylor, Emily Byrnes

3 students from Darien High School were selected by audition to perform in the 2021 CMEA All-State Festival:

• All-State Band:  Frank Drugge
• All-State Orchestra:  Margaret Russell, Conan Thibodeau

2 students from Darien High School were selected by audition to perform in the 2020 NAfME All-National Honors Ensemble:

• All-National Mixed Choir:  Eleanor Chase, John Raskopf

Pictured (L-R):  Quinn Taylor, cello; Margaret Russell, viola; Eleanor Chase, soprano; Anna Schorr, clarinet; Madchen Carrier, clarinet; Shea Ehrhard, french horn; John Raskopf, Tenor; Jack Kennedy, trombone; Grant McIntyre, tenor sax

Conan Thibodeau, violin

Ellie Gaaserud, Soprano

Emily Byrnes, violin

Frank Drugge, French Horn

DHS Pops Strings performs at the Darien Library

Check out this article featuring Ms. Minnis and the DHS Pops Strings!

• Click here for the article in The Darien Times