South High senior William Nommensen drags the bow along the strings of his cello, practicing the notes on the sheet music in front of him. With the 75th Annual All-City Music Festival around the corner, his excitement grows to play on the stage at the Holland Performing Arts Center in February.
“I’ve participated in the festival since the sixth grade,” said Nommensen. “The audience will hear this beautiful music put on by choirs and the orchestra of Omaha Public Schools.”
The All-City Music Festival showcases the hard work and preparation of the top-performing band, choir and orchestra students from each of our district schools.
“It’s an opportunity that takes them out of the classroom and into the real world,” said Georg Getty, Northwest High music teacher. “We create an experience for students to work with high-level clinicians in a high-level place.”
While the All-City Music Festival takes place during the first weekend of February, preparation began much earlier. Auditions in December started a two-month-long journey for teachers and students in our district. South High orchestra and music theory teacher Mindy Zimmerman says students learn responsibility throughout this process.
“The students are responsible for learning their parts on their own,” said Zimmerman. “This is an opportunity for our students to reach above and beyond what they might experience at the school level.”
All-City participants only rehearse together three times before the festival begins, which means much of the practicing is done on the students’ own time. To help with this, Getty provides his students with practice resources, including practice tracks to listen to at home or during their free time.
“Wherever they are, they can pull out their sheet music, put in their earbuds or speaker system, sing along with the equipment and listen to their part,” said Getty. “We do whatever we can to allow them to be successful and give them the tools they need to dig into these songs.”
Northwest High sophomore Luis Resendiz Vallejo prepares to return to the All-City stage for the first time since the seventh grade. He’ll be performing as a tenor with the high school choir.
“The students have worked hard towards this, and the pieces we’re performing mean something,” said Resendiz Vallejo. “I wanted to do this because I thought it would be a great experience, and I’m excited to see people from other schools and get to sing with them.”
Nommensen says he’s also looking forward to sharing the stage with more than 1,000 Omaha Public Schools students.
“I’m excited to see the other cellists I’ve become friends with from other schools again,” he said. “It’s all of the best musicians in our district coming together to play, and it’s fun to work with others so dedicated to their instruments.”
The festival is held over two days. Instrumental music performances start at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1. The choirs will perform on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 2 p.m.
“Audience members are going to see talented students from all across our district, from all walks of life, coming together to make art, to make music and to make life-changing experiences,” said Zimmerman.
Don't miss the chance to watch our students in action—get your tickets now!
