Rockford Lutheran Schools Fine Arts Recognitions

This site was created to give additional honor to students and/or faculty who have been publicly recognized for their outstanding performance.

Congratulations to the following music department students who successfully auditioned and made it into the Illinois Music Educators District Band, Choir and Orchestra:

Junior Band: Martin Willette – French Horn; Junior Choir: Abi Harris, Soprano; Junior Orchestra: Elena Ewaldz, Harp, Scott Reithmeier, Cello, Josh Schwenk, Cello, Kaitlyn Schwenk, Cello

Illinois All-State Music Conference Musicians

Four students from Rockford Lutheran were selected for the Illinois All-State Music Conference. These students ranked among the top 2% of high school musicians in Illinois. Congratulations to the following:
Kendall McCabe -- Violin II -- All-State Orchestra, Kendall Ferguson -- Viola -- All-State Orchestra, Alex Gungel -- String Bass -- All-State Band, Emily Wonder -- Concert Harp -- Honors All-State Band

Rockford Lutheran musicians excelled in the IHSA solo/ensemble competition

Congratulation to the Rockford Lutheran Junior High Orchestra for their 1st place finish in the IGSMA Large Group competition. Our Senior High Orchestra took 1st place in the Class A School Division with a Superior rating. In addition, they also took the best Overall Orchestra Award among all of the Class A, AA, and AAA schools.

Our Junior High Choir and Orchestra both took 2nd places with Excellent ratings and our Junior High Band took 4th place in the Band division.

Out of 51 events, RLHS received 32 superior ratings and 16 excellent ratings. Students receiving a first rating were:

Mackie Atteberry, Grace Bodey, Kelsey Cratty, Heather Gill, Marissa Gruber, McKenzie Wallace, Sung-Hui Yang, Sarah Kortze, Brittany Borman, Crystal Johnson, Sam Knox, Lauren McKee, Stephanie Snap, Sarah Gessner, Kendall McCabe, Michael Dobler, Joel Gustafson, Joe Reising, David Pearson, Brad Giamalva, Scott Reithmeier, Jeremy Lewis, Amy Reithmeier, Kayla Rote, Cassie Carlson, Emily Wonder, Rose Moller-Jacobs, Kendall McCabe, Kendall Ferguson, Stephanie Gallagher, Laura Seeber, Tim Hopps, Andrew Kortze

Rockford Lutheran Travels to Disney

On February 16-19, 2007 the Rockford Lutheran High School Symphony Orchestra (RLHSO) traveled to Disney World to perform. The RLHSO (full orchestra compliment, made up of students from our band and orchestra programs) performed at Downtown Disney on the Dock Stage. The ensemble played selections from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; and The Little Mermaid: Under the Sea. The RLHSO also participated in an orchestration workshop with Disney personnel.

The Rockford Lutheran Combined Band and Orchestra went through a stringent audition process in the winter of 2006 to gain acceptance as a performing group for Disney World in 2007. Two high quality recordings of our ensembles performing Disney literature, pictures of our concert attire, and information on our music ensembles were required for the audition. We were thrilled when we learned in the spring of 2006 that we were excepted as a school group to perform on their grounds. Disney is very particular about who can perform there, and we consider it an honor to be accepted and a testament to the quality of our music program.

2007 All-State Musicians

The Illinois Music Educators Association (IMEA) has selected Rockford Lutheran High School students Kendall McCabe (Sophomore), Violin - All-State Orchestra and Stephen Trimble (Senior), String Bass. Only the top 2% of music students in Illinois make it to the All-State level.