Pagosa Springs Middle School (PSMS) is proud to congratulate Lillian Jones on her historic achievement in the Colorado Middle All State Choir.
Jones is only the second student in Pagosa Springs history to receive this honor.
Eighth-graders Lily Peck and Lillian Jones undertook the rigorous audition process for the prestigious state-level choir.
“Making it through the audition process is the choir equivalent of qualifying for a state-level sports competition,” said PSMS Choir Director Katrina Thomas. “I am so proud of them both. They dedicated countless hours of practice and preparation into the audition, then had to wait for over seven weeks to get the results.”
When the selections were announced, Thomas was thrilled to notify Jones that she had earned a spot in the Triplo Ensemble in the Colorado Middle All State Choir Festival.
“All music must be memorized before the festival, so Lillian diligently practiced the repertoire every day,” Thomas shared.
The challenging repertoire included three foreign-language selections — the Baroque “Dixit Dominus” by Vivaldi, the Serbian Roma dance “Nishka Banja” and the lively Cuban Spanish “Sigue” — along with a moving arrangement of the spiritual “Peace Like a River,” the powerful “Song for Justice” accompanied by a live string quintet and the rhythmic contrapuntal masterpiece “Sing Alleluia, Clap Your Hands.”
On Feb. 6, Jones and Thomas traveled to downtown Denver for the two-day festival held in the Colorado Convention Center.
There, Jones rehearsed alongside more than 500 of the best seventh- and eighth-grade choir students from all across the state under the direction of expert clinicians from around the country. The festival then culminated in a public concert at the Bellco Theater the evening of Feb. 7.
Jones was also selected as a feature soloist during the event.
“It’s really hard to put into words the experience we just had at Colorado Middle School All State Choir. The amount of work that the kids put in to even get there is huge. And I had no idea how absolutely incredible and emotional this whole experience would be,” commented Bethany Jones, mother of Lillian Jones and chaperone at the event. “To say I’m grateful feels small. This was so phenomenal. Truly the memory of a lifetime. The experience of singing with a group of kids that are willing to put in this amount of work and effort, and love music like you, coupled by being mentored by the best of the best was just amazing.”
“This is truly a rare and exciting opportunity,” Thomas added. “We are thrilled to be restoring high-quality choir programming at the middle school, giving our small-town students access to incredible musical experiences like this. As a teacher, there is nothing more rewarding than pushing your students to excellence and watching them soar.”
