All-State, a highly sought after position among high school orchestra players in Texas, results were recently released on Sunday, Nov. 10. The competition itself consisted of mastering seven or eight pieces that will be recorded for judges to review and thereafter rank the players. 

Auditions are made up of two separate rounds, Area and State, where auditionees played etudes of the music used in All-Region as well as record clips of themselves playing snippets from the selected music for the annual All-State clinic performance. 

“During the actual State round we are recorded on a tape and have one try,” Gokul Narayanan ‘20 said, “so we can’t mess up. Knowing that this one recording determines whether all your hard work the past six months paid off or not is very stressful in of itself.”

Unlike most schools across Texas where the most students who qualify are well under five per school, Westwood continues to astonish and exceed expectations with a total of 13 students qualifying for the annual All-State clinic, the second highest number of students across the entire state.  These 13 students were then divided into three separate orchestras – symphony, philharmonic, and sinfonietta – based on their overall rank in the state. 

“When I saw the number 14 next to my name,” Edward Seo ‘21 said, “I went ballistic, being overly hysterical for like the next three hours with a humongous smile on my face. As my recordings for All-State were messed up last year due to a technical error, I really wanted to come back strong and do good this year. I was so relieved and ecstatic that all of the effort I put into All-State ultimately paid off.”

Additionally, on top of the 13 students simply making All-State, Anna Wicker ‘20 has been successfully selected for all four years of high school, yet again proving the talent and caliber fostered at Westwood. 

“I’m so happy I’ve made All-State all four years,” Wicker said. “ It was a huge goal for me when I first started the process my freshman year. I was shocked and ecstatic when I found out about the results; it all seemed surreal and though this is going to sound cliche, it really felt like a dream.”

Listed below are the 13 individuals selected to perform in the All-State Orchestras at the TMEA Convention in San Antonio in February

Sanjay Balakrishnan ‘20 

Alex Kim ‘23

Elliot Kim ‘21

Minshin Kim ‘21

Emily Liau ‘20

Anant Malpani ‘21

Gokul Narayanan ‘20

Suhaas Patil ‘23

Polaron Posadas ‘20

Edward Seo ’21

Phyllis Stockton ‘22

Anna Wicker ‘20

Erin Zhang ‘21