Saratoga High student musicians represent at state level

In addition to winning multiple local honors, student musicians from Saratoga High School have been selected to represent their school in regional, state and national competitions.

The 52-member Saratoga High School Strings performed at the 77th annual Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic last month in Chicago, one of only two groups from California invited to perform.

Saratoga High’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble has been selected to perform at the California All-State Music Education Conference in February. Chosen from more than 70 applicants, including several colleges in California, Saratoga High will perform for thousands of educators, volunteers, college recruiters, and musicians at the conference.

Saratoga High ensembles also performed well at local marching band and color guard competitions this fall. At the Cupertino Tournament of Bands, Saratoga High’s marching band and color guard placed third in their division, and Saratoga High’s percussion placed first. At the Foothill Band Review, the marching band and color guard placed first in their division and second overall. At the Folsom Fall Festival, the marching band placed first overall.

Saratoga High students were well-represented in ensembles representing the county and the state. The Santa Clara County Honor Band included clarinetists Kathy Chen and Jayden Ham; saxophonists Dylan Huang, Alex Vash-Muñoz, Barbara Vasilyeva, Jed Yao and Travis Zhu; trumpeters Nathan Lee, Jet Tsang and Hector Vash-Muñoz; trombonists Anthony Luo and Daniel Schwartz; horn player Ryan Sanders; and Julius Zhou on the euphonium.

Chen, Ham, Huang, Zhu, Lee, Schwartz and Sanders also made the California All-State Band and Orchestra, along with violinists Jenny Jiang and  Sarah Jiang; bassist Ian Kim; violists Jiho Kim and Tejas Tirthapura; cellists Ethan Lee, Florence Wei and Nolan Woo; clarinetist Jay Lim; trombonist Brad Ma; flutist Eric Miao; and trumpeters Gabriel Shyh and Pothan Tang.

Ham, Huang, Lee, Schwartz, Vasilyeva and Yao are also representing Saratoga High in the Music for All Honor Band of America. Jazz saxophonist Arjun Krish is an alternate.

Saratoga High students accepted into the California Choral Directors Association Regional Honors Choir included Nikila Bashyam, Sahana Kumar, Joyce Lee, Navya Rao and Aria Zhang. Bashyam moved up to the All-State Honors Choir.