Sophomore Ashney Datta and junior Elisabeth Williams will be making the trip to Orlando, Florida this November to participate in the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) All-National Mixed Choir.

Datta and Williams are two of only 16 students selected from Connecticut and were chosen over thousands of others nationwide. They will join the other 240 accepted vocalists on November 7 for their first rehearsal, and concerts will take place on Saturday, November 9 and Sunday, November 10. These performances are open to the public so that the young musicians have the chance to showcase their talents.

Before even considering auditioning for All-Nationals, Williams and Datta first had to audition for and attend the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA) Northern Regional Music Festival and the CMEA All-States Music Festival.

After, they were required to record a solo and submit it for review to a panel of college professors. Over this past summer, the girls and all other selected students received an email notifying them that they had been accepted into All-Nationals.

For Williams, All-Nationals seemed the next logical step in challenging herself as a musician.

“Last year was my second year attending the All-State festival, and my score improved a lot the second year. I wanted to try auditioning for Nationals to have the experience, and to see if I could maybe get in,” Williams said.

Datta, on the other hand, said that at first she wasn’t going to audition and was excited once accepted.

“I didn’t think that I’d get in even though I really wanted to, but my parents urged me on telling me that I didn’t know for sure that I wouldn’t get in, and that I should at least try since I’ll only get three chances,” Datta said.

Both Williams and Datta are looking forward to the learning opportunity they will have in such a large and skilled choir under the direction of a famous conductor. Datta noted that she is “hoping to learn from not only Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, but from all the other musicians who made it.

Williams is a student of Chamber Choir Director Leslie Imse, while Datta is taught by choir teacher Louise Carrozza in Women’s Ensemble. Imse noted that both girls are “artistic vocalists with outstanding music literacy skills.”