Four Charles City students head to All-State

By Kate Hayden | khayden@charlescitypress.com

Four Charles City High School musicians are joining the 70th annual All-State Music Festival for a high-performing concert on Saturday night in central Iowa.

Band students Derek LaBarge, junior, trumpet; Karissa Jensen, senior, trumpet; Joseph Iseneker, junior, french horn; and choral senior Kaylee Michael are part of approximately 17 percent of Iowa students who had auditioned for membership in the All-State ensembles for 2016. They will perform at tomorrow’s Festival Concert in the Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University, in Ames.

The festival showcases top high school students in band, choir and orchestra. The program will be recorded by Iowa Public Television for re-broadcasting; dates and times are available at www.iptv.org. The festival is hosted by the Iowa High School Music Association and the Iowa Music Educators Association.

It’s Michael’s second year as an all state musician, director Derek Sturtavent said. An alto, Michael was the only Charles City vocalist accepted into All-State in 2015.

“She put in a lot of hard work and a lot of time that goes into that, practicing every day before school and after school,” Sturtavent said.

Michael has also been selected to perform in the 2017 High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall in New York City this February. Musicians were chosen from across the U.S., Guam, Canada and a number of other foreign counties to showcase talented and dedicated high school students.

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