Niwot High orchestra invited to exclusive competition in NYC

The Niwot High School Orchestra has been invited to compete in New York City at the national Orchestra Cup. This annual event is a nationwide competition held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where only fifteen of the top orchestras in the nation are invited to attend. This event could be considered the “Super Bowl” of orchestra competitions.

Under the direction of Keynes Chen, NHS Orchestra and Mariachi Ensemble Director, the musicians will be traveling to New York in the spring of 2025 and have some serious fundraising to do. In order to attend and send twenty-five performers to New York, they will need to raise $50,000 for this four-day and three-night trip. They will depart on February 27th, compete on March 1st, and fly back to Colorado on March 2nd. This trip can take no more than fifty people, including the performers, other students who wish to support/ experience this competition, and chaperones.

Chen reached out to the organization for this national competition just two days after the Fall Extravaganza concert on October 16th, and with only one position available left to compete, he had to present an argument to their board to be accepted. Nine days later, they received the news after Chen informed them that Niwot Orchestra had consistently achieved perfect scores the past two years at State Championships.

“I feel very lucky and overwhelmed,” said Chen “and I know students feel very excited and proud of all their work over the past years.” The program has already seen significant positive attitude increase, more than was already present, by all students who now realize how great they can be in their performance. Students are truly realizing how important practice is and how attainable something like a national competition can be.

Chen has revolutionized the Orchestra Department since he first started teaching at Niwot in Jan. 2019 as reported in the Courier on April 17, 2024. In the past couple of years, he has led the orchestra to perform in the Baltics in 2023 to crowds of over 500 people and traveled with the Mariachi Ensemble on a European tour this past spring. The orchestra program has maintained a 4A State Title for the past three years at the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) music festivals.

When Chen takes the NHS Orchestra to this competition, while it is a great honor and they do want to perform well, Chen stated that he just wants the students to perform their very best and to “not worry about a title - just going means we have already won.” Not to mention, just by attending, students can put this on their college resumes, and add this experience to Niwot’s list of achievements.

This once-in-a-lifetime experience, to compete on a national level, will be truly unique. Students will be exposed to superior, world-class performances, and will have the opportunity to work with and be critiqued by leading experts and clinicians. They will also have the opportunity to tour New York City and attend a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic.

For this upcoming trip to be possible, the orchestra needs help. To donate, contact Chen by emailing [email protected] and be sure to visit the orchestra website at https://nhsorchestra.squarespace.com/. They have an online fundraising campaign, but for those wishing to donate directly to this trip, checks can be made out to “Niwot High School Orchestra.”