Upper School’s “Middletown” explores the meaning of human connection 

Congratulations to the Upper School cast and crew of “Middletown” for a wonderfully delicate play about the humanity of small town relationships. “Middletown” is a deeply moving and funny play exploring the universe of a small American town. As a friendship develops between longtime resident John Dodge and new arrival Mary Swanson, the lives of the inhabitants of Middletown intersect in strange and poignant ways in a journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and points between. Bravo for the incredibly moving performance!

Junior selected for All-State Orchestra

 Congratulations to junior Julia Zhu for being selected for the All-State Orchestra! Zhu recently performed alongside the rest of her All State musicians in Columbus. All State Ensembles (orchestra, concert band, chorus, jazz band) are made up of incredible student musicians from across the state of Ohio and are determined through a rigorous audition process. Congrats, Julia!

Junior wins First Grand Prize

Congratulations to junior Nathan Wang for claiming the title of 1st Place Grand-Prize Winner at the 2nd Annual Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Saxophone Competition! Nathan received performance honors during the evening recital featuring other saxophone DMA students and graduate-level saxophone quartets. He secured his victory with his excellent playing of Alexander Glazunov’s Concerto in Eb major for alto saxophone, Op. 109. During the competition, competitors needed to play a Class A (or equivalent) classical solo accompanied by piano. Wang and his competition were judged by the CCM head of the saxophone performance division, Dr. James Bunte, Dr. Om Srivastava (saxophone performance), and another second year DMA student. The contest was open to all saxophonists in the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana regions. Congrats, Nathan!

Eighth grader wins first place for piano

Congratulations to eighth grader Sebastian Morales for winning first place in the second movement and second place in the third movement of the Piano Intermedio Division during the Julia Bartles Concerto Competition. The tri-state competition occurs every two to three years. As a first-place winner, Sebastian will perform with the Youth Symphony Orchestra in a concerto including the other piano and strings winners. Congrats, Sebastian!

Upper Schoolers win OMEA Vocal solo awards

On Jan. 28, seven vocalists from Seven Hills participated in the Ohio Music Education Association District 14 Solo and Ensemble Contest at Anderson High School. All seven students won a medal for placing in one of the top two vocal solo categories! The soloists are:

Senior Elias Buttress—I, Superior

Junior Shravan Sekhar—II, Excellent

Freshman Vivan Brown— I, Superior

Sophomore Carson Crane—I, Superior

Sophomore Sophia Scheurmeyer—I, Superior

Freshman Lily Plum Gartenlaub— I, Superior

Freshman Noah Ring—II, Excellent

Congratulations, soloists!

Middle School students perform in Honors Choir

On Jan. 21, 11 seventh and eighth grade singers participated in the Ohio Music Education Association District 14 Junior High Honors Choir held at the Princeton Schools Matthews auditorium. The singers learned most of their music  through an independent study of the material in the weeks leading up to the performance and had three rehearsals at Seven Hills before the big day. Once they arrived at the Princeton Schools Matthews auditorium, they rehearsed for six hours with the full chorus and performed for their audience in the late afternoon. The Honors Choir was composed of over 150 of the best junior high singers in the Cincinnati area from 11 schools. The Seven Hills students who participated were: seventh graders Lauren Breese, Kurt Hauser, Rebecca Jacobs, and Eli Kampel, and eighth graders Santiago Dreher, Nikhil Hariharan, Amrutha Juluri, Kendall Niehaus, Keya Vadivelu, Vibu Ramineni, and Maya Little. Bravo, singers!