Four U-High students played at the Illinois Music Education Association’s All-State festival Jan. 29 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, following a virtual audition process last fall. Senior Erik Sveen Erling sang in the honors choir, and senior Nicholas Emerton sang in the all-state choir. Juniors William Tan played principal cello in the honors orchestra, and Amelia Zheng played violin in the honors orchestra. 

The students’ performances were preceded by two full days of rehearsal, when most performers began playing their assigned music for the first time.

“I honestly barely looked at the music before rehearsal,” Erik said. “It was comforting that everyone else was also on the same page.”

The students became eligible to perform after sending an audio recording of their work to the ILMEA which selected them, and more than 7,000 other Illinois students, to play at district-level festivals.

“The district festival was great,” Erik said. “I honestly thought that would’ve been the highlight for me for high school choir.”

Erik said he was wrong and that performing “America the Beautiful” with the honors choir and orchestra was much more powerful for him.

“Because of the nature of the song, when I was singing, I just felt a lot of pride in where I live and grew up,” he said. “It was kind of a spiritual awakening.”