All-State Orchestra Chair
All-State Orchestra Live Auditions are quickly approaching! They will be hosted at Lakewood Middle School in Salina on Saturday January 6. Only students who made their District ensemble and performed in the concert are eligible to participate in this event. Students are to have all three orchestral excerpts and both scales prepared for the audition. The judges for each instrument will chose specific excerpts and these will be posted for the students to see the morning of their audition. Excerpts for each instrument are posted on the KMEA website under the All-State drop down menu.
We are honored to have David Becker return as the 2018 Kansas All-State Orchestra Clinician. He was the clinician of the 2009 All-State Orchestra. Mr. Becker is widely recognized for his dedication to teaching student musicians, which has resulted in high school/university orchestra clinics, and guest conducting Regional and All-State Honor Orchestras in 45 states.
Mr. Becker retired from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2005, where he was director of orchestras and professor of the Graduate Orchestral Conducting Program from 1984–2005. Upon retiring from Wisconsin in 2005, Professor Becker served as director of Orchestral Studies at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music (WI) from 2005–2012. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Fox Valley Symphony (WI) for his work as the interim conductor of the Fox Valley Symphony Youth Orchestra (Appleton, WI) during 2011. Upon retiring for a second time, Professor Becker moved to Texas Tech University from 2013-2017 and is now serving as The Ohio State University visiting professor–interim orchestra conductor.
Professor Becker is widely recognized for his dedication to teaching student musicians, which has resulted in high school/university orchestra clinics, and guest conducting Regional and All-State Honor Orchestras in 45 states.
