A gold, a silver and an opportunity of a lifetime — it’s been quite a week for musicians from a local high school.
Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School’s senior band competed at MusicFest Canada at the University of Toronto and won gold Wednesday for its performance at the Series 400 level. The school’s jazz band also impressed adjudicators and earned silver.
As if that wasn’t enough excitement, one of the adjudicators, Brendan Caldwell, was so taken with the senior band’s performance, he invited the group to perform next February during a festival he is organizing at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
“There’s a saying that if you touch the stage at Carnegie Hall, you’ll play there one day,” said James Hilts, director of the senior band.
Good thing the band toured Carnegie Hall last year during a trip to the Big Apple. The students did, indeed, touch the stage. Now they’ll get to perform on it.
“They’re ecstatic. They’re over the moon,” Hilts said.
That’s certainly the case for Emily Fallows.
“At first, I did not believe it,” the 18-year-old bass clarinet player said of Caldwell’s invitation. “I thought he was joking.”
A member of the band for three years, the Grade 12 student was among those who toured Carnegie Hall last year.
“I’ve seen it. I’ve touched the stage,” she said. “Realizing I’m going to play there is just amazing. It came true. It’s real.”
The invitation was the icing on the cake after her band’s impressive performance.
“I knew our performance went very well. I wasn’t expecting gold, but as soon as (the band found out), everyone was thrilled.”
Consensus among the four adjudicators was required for the 45-member band to win gold.
More than 6,000 performers were taking part in the national competition. However, the bands weren’t necessarily competing against one another.
“You compete against yourselves and against the standards,” said Hilts, who was joined at nationals by teacher Lisa Emons. “You need an exceptional amount of talent to be able to pull it off. It’s something we’re extremely proud of.”
It’s no easy feat. It requires an extraordinary amount of time and effort on the students’ part, Hilts said.
“I’m so thankful to have students who work as hard as they do and take it as seriously as they do,” he said. “It amazes me that people from different cliques and different areas of the school are able to come together as a group and do something as fantastic as this.”
The hard work has been worth it, according to Fallows.
“After seeing everyone put in so much time, having that opportunity given to us really made me proud to be part of the Patrick Fogarty band,” she said.
Patrick Fogarty is no stranger to the national stage, having competed at MusicFest Canada multiple times over the past 30 years. It has performed at the Series 400 level — which often features university and advanced high school bands — for more than a decade. The band won silver at last year’s competition.
But Carnegie Hall will be a first.
“We’re very proud of the students and grateful for the opportunity,” Patrick Fogarty principal Carolyn Healy said, citing the classic joke: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.”
