Saturday, March 23, 2019

Art Club Public Art Philanthropy Project

Student artists affiliated with the Art Club, Computer Art classes and Ceramics classes are working to finish a lighthouse made out of recycled bottle caps.  This project is in support of the 2019 DGS Philanthropy Project supporting Erika's Lighthouse.

As the project moves to completion, the students are still in need of plastic brown bottle caps.  Please donate any plastic brown bottle caps to the Fine Arts Office at South, Room B122.

Special thanks to Art Club Sponsor Molly O'Brien-Prusa and Ceramics teacher Kathy Myles for mentoring students through this project.

Photo Credit:  Jennifer Martinez

Thursday, March 21, 2019

2019 Instrumental Music Day





As a culminating activity to a chamber music unit, students in the South High School Bands participated in the 2019 Instrumental Music Day.  Students in Concert Band and Symphonic Band have spent up to 6 hours of class time preparing solo and small ensemble repertoire.  Today the students performed for each other and for three professional outside expert adjudicators: Ben Carrasquillo, Gary English, David Oricz and Thomas Stark.  In addition to receiving a score and a rating for their performance, the students also received immediate formative feedback and a handwritten evaluation sheet.

Students in  Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble enjoyed master classes on career pathways in music that focusing on performance, entrepreneurship, lifestyle habits and professional mindset frameworks presented by each of the judges for the day.

The individual growth through the process of preparing and performing chamber music during this unit has been significant for the students involved.  Thanks to Mr. Hensel and Mr. Brooks for facilitating this event for our student musicians.

DGS Visual Artist Earns National Scholastic Award


National Scholastics Silver Medal winner Mitch Kravec with mentor teacher Michelle Lynn

South High School is proud to announce that artist Mitch Kravec has won a Silver Medal after adjudication in the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

Since 1923, the Scholastic Art and Writing Writing Awards are the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious award and recognition program for creative teens. This year the Scholastic Awards received 330,000  submissions for the 2018-2019 program year. Receiving a National Medal from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards places these student artists within the top 1% of all submissions from a national pool of art work.

Student work will be in exhibition at Carnegie Hall in New York, New York starting with an gala opening in June of 2019.

"Earning a national award from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is the pinnacle of success for a high school artist." said Fine Arts department chairman Glenn Williams.  "We are extremely proud of Mitch and mentor teacher Michelle Lynn for earning this recognition at a national level."

For more information about South High School visual art, contact Glenn Williams, department chair, at gwilliams@csd99.org

South High School Staff Tenure Celebration


Congratulations to all the South High School faculty members who were awarded tenure by the Board of Education.  Special shout-out to Fine Arts team members Katherine O'Truk and Greg Hensel for earning tenure.  We look forward to your continuing work igniting a passion for the arts in our learning community!

Monday, March 18, 2019

2019 District 99 Honors Vocal Recital



Congratulations to the student musicians from the North High and South High Choral programs for their wonderful performances in this evening's District 99 Vocal Honors Recital.

Initiated over 20 years ago, the District 99 Honors Vocal Recital showcases the finest vocal musicians in District 99 in an annual collaborative performance. This event symbolizes what is best in District 99 - it is collaborative, it is predicated on excellence, and it is all about students.

Leading up to this recital, both South and North High Schools hold independent vocal festivals. These festivals, held during the school day, are adjudicated by professional musicians and teachers from outside of District 99. The expert panel of adjudicators provide each student performing event with immediate formative feedback, and, with a score based on the quality of their performance. Each school then holds a run-off competition, where the best events are selected by the panel of adjudicators to perform on the District 99 Honors Vocal Recital. In total, more than 100 chamber music events are adjudicated during the Vocal Festivals at North and South High Schools.

In addition to the District 99 team of teachers working with the student musicians, a superior staff of private voice teachers coach and accompany the student singers through the performance preparation process at both South and North High Schools. These teachers are integral to the student success manifested during this recital.

Special thanks to District 99 music faculty and staff - Joy Belt-Roselieb, Beth O'Riordan, Ricardo Pedroza, Frank Piekarz, Rachel Seidel and Margaret Winchell for their work in coordinating the recital this evening.




















Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Great job District 99 Orchestra!











The District 99 Concert and Symphonic Orchestras presented a wonderful concert on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 in the Johnson Auditorium at DGN.  Thanks to a generous grant from the D99 Foundation and support from DGN and DGS FOFA which funded coaching sessions from professional musicians, 9 different chamber ensembles were featured at the start of the concert.  The artistic elegance and depth of expression from each ensemble was impressive.

Also featured during the concert were senior soloists Lucie Boyd and Amelia Korbitz.  Accompanied by the D99 Symphonic Orchestra, both Lucie and Amelia demonstrated a professional level of performance proficiency that impressed every concert patron in attendance.  Congratulations to both Lucie and Amelia for sharing their artistic talents in such an excellent manner.

The evening concluded with a performance of the Finale from Dvorak's "New World" Symphony by the D99 Symphonic Orchestra. Congratulations to the students and staff affiliated with the D99 Orchestra - it was a wonderful evening of music!

Monday, March 11, 2019

D99 Orchestra Concert - Tuesday Night!


Please join the District 99 Orchestra for their March Concert, Tuesday evening at 7:00 PM in the Clarence Johnson Auditorium of North High School.

Family and friends unable to join us on campus may tune in to the live-stream on the DGN Fine Arts YouTube Channel

Friday, March 08, 2019

2019 Choir Show - Music of MOTOWN! #99Learns #DGSPride










Congratulations to the students and staff affiliated with the 2019 Choir Show - THE MUSIC OF MOTOWN - for presenting a fabulous production.  Patrons left the production singing and dancing to some of America's best music!

If you were unable to join us in the auditorium tonight, please enjoy the archived broadcast on the South High School Fine Arts YouTube channel.  

Tuesday, March 05, 2019

South Winter Guard continues strong competitive season! #99Learns #DGSPride





Congratulations to the students and staff affiliated with the DGS Winter Guard.  Competing on the Midwest Color Guard Circuit in the Scholastic A Class, the ensemble continued their strong season with a 3rd place finish at the A. A. Stagg High School competition on Saturday, March 2, 2019.  
The ensemble continues their season on March 9, 2019 at Lake Park High School.  
Keep up the great work!

2019 IHSA Solo and Ensemble Results #99Learns #DGSPride


Student musicians from South High School in Downers Grove participated in the 2019 Solo and Ensemble Contest sponsored by IHSA and hosted this year at Hinsdale South High School.

Students prepare solos and ensembles and play for an expert adjudicator, receiving both a score and a rating, and, formative feedback for improvement.  Additionally, students performing solos must play scales from memory, demonstrating technical fluency on their instruments outside of their prepared solo work.

In total, over 50 students participated in nearly 40 different events.   27 students performed as soloists, and  30 students formed 11 different ensembles during the course of the day.  Students from both the bands and the orchestras from South High School participated in this event.

"Regardless of rating or score, we are proud of every student for choosing to pursue musical growth through this process."  said Fine Arts Department Chairman Glenn Williams.  "The individual growth that occurs through studying and performing chamber music is substantial."

Two events, soloists Therese Malinowksi and Matthew Leinart, earned a Citation for being the "Best in Room."  After listening to events for an entire day, the judge considered Malinowski's solo the most outstanding musical event during the course of the day in that specific room.

Here are the students that earned a Division I rating, described on the judges sheet as "a superior performance - outstanding in nearly every detail."

Carson Aldrich - trombone
Andrew Brandt - trombone
Elizabeth Colip - oboe
Joseph Daniele - trombone
Samantha Guagliardo - euphonium
Logan Henderson - trumpet
Kelly Jankowski - trumpet
Mackenzie Johnson - flute
Haruya Kamitani - violin
Matthew Leinart - alto saxophone - BEST IN ROOM CITATION
Therese Malinowski - cello - BEST IN ROOM CITATION
Marina Milad - flute
Mary Mulcahey - flute
Phillip Okunev - violin
Maddy Pteanc - violin
Michaela Rakos - flute
Brock Royle - violin
Saahil Sorakayla - bassoon
Emily Schwab - bassoon
Jonah Sprandel - alto saxophone
Nathan Wiechec - trombone

Trumpet Ensemble - Matt Fischer, Selia Fry, Ben Tunney
Brass Ensemble - Samantha Guagliardo, Kelly Jankowski, Ethan Pawl
String Ensemble - Andre Biekircher, Megan Holley
String Ensemble - Jerico Gomez, Summer Kruk, Therese Malinowski, Nithin Nathan
String Ensemble - Kelly Lyons, Maddy Pteanc, Olivia Roti, Brock Royle
String Ensemble - Leka Davis, Sierra Donaldson, Timothy Neumann, Delfin Santiago
Woodwind Duet - Emma Ansah, Missy Tepe

Here are the students that earned a Division II rating, described on the judges sheet as "An excellent performance - minor defects."

Andre Biekircher - violin
Sierra Donaldson - viola
Megan Holley - violin
Jasmin Jackson - tuba
Sana Nasib - viola
Liana O'Rourke - violin

Percussion Ensemble - Nick Brown, Nina Glawe, Cooper LamBeau, Evalyn Ooms, Elliott Lewis, Scott Pape, Ethan Pawl, Hayden Quinn, Karin Schroeder, Mitchell Thiel, Claire Vanni, Rick Vatawat
String Ensemble - Michael Beube, Joseph Hardy, Jeremy Lynch, John Smetana
String Ensemble -  Christopher Kuper, Sana Nasib, Evalyn Ooms, Mason Taylor
String Ensemble - Bennett Allendorfer, Gabe Coughlin, Haruya Kamitani