The Red Hook Central School District Music Department hosted the 2022 NYSSMA Zone 10 Area All-State at Red Hook High School on November 18 - 19. Close to 300 high-achieving student musicians from 23 school districts located in Dutchess, Columbia, and Putnam counties were selected from a large pool of applicants to participate in one of four honors ensembles created for this annual event. Red Hook students accounted for 19 of the total participants selected based on NYSSMA solo evaluations and teacher recommendations.

Following months of preparation, students arrived on November 18 and participated in at least 10 hours of rehearsal over the course of two days under the direction of four distinguished conductors from around the Northeast. Students participating in the String Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Mixed Chorus, and Treble Chorus all enjoyed tackling challenging collegiate repertoire arrangements and the opportunity to socialize with peers from other school districts. Rehearsals culminated in two concerts on Saturday afternoon attended by more than 600 people who got to experience the high-caliber music making in the state-of-the-art performing arts facility located at the high school.

“This event is always cause for celebration. It’s absolutely one of the highlights of the academic year for us in the High School," said K-12 Music Department Coordinator and Area All-State General Chairperson Matt Funigiello. "This year was particularly meaningful for Red Hook as this was the first time we have hosted this important event. We were formerly unable to host Area-All State given our lack of a suitable performing arts space in our building."

“This was truly an incredible opportunity to share our wonderful facility with others from the Mid-Hudson Valley and there was undoubtably a considerable amount of excitement from people seeing the space for the first time. I think we can look forward to hosting many more performing arts events in the space in the not-so-distant future," he added.

For the second year in a row, the Red Hook Music Department is looking forward to hosting the Spring NYSSMA Zone 10 Solo Adjudication Festival on May 5 - 6, 2023 at the high school.

Thank you to all the participants and their guests, and especially to the faculty and staff for their hard work and dedication in making this event possible.