Strings Festival Showcase Students, Program Success

The sound of remarkable dedication, hours of practice and carefully nurtured skill filled the Farmington High School gym Tuesday night, along with more than 800 Farmington strings players.

The occasion was the Farmington Districtwide Strings Festival, a celebration of music that brings student musicians from elementary to high school together.

The event was so big that it had to be split into two concerts because the gym could not hold all of the musicians and their families.

“The districtwide festival is a yearly project by music teachers in the town of Farmington,” explained Music Department Chairman Leslie Imse. Each year is a different genre – choral, band, and this year is strings. “The music teachers choose literature and work with students on technique. It showcases the entire program and the development through the ages.”

Each elementary school performed a few selections individually, then West Woods Upper Elementary School, Irving A Robbins and finally, Farmington High School, a select strings group, Vintage 21 Chamber Orchestra and then all the groups together. After playing, the young ones sat quietly through the remaining portions of the concert, listening to the older kids’ performance and an astounding solo by senior violinist Gunnar Moll.

“Everyone thinks it’s about the young students looking up but the seniors,” Imse said. “But they’re now in their third districtside festival and have wonderful memories looking back.”

Moll, who began playing in first grade at Union School an is now an accomplished violinist, agreed.

“Looking up to the high school students, that was always kind of my goal,” he said. “Now it’s fun to be the leaders. It’s fun to see how far we’ve come in the progression as we get older.”

“The Farmington strings program, of course, is really, really good but also it’s provided me so many opportunities. We went to Disney World, played at Carnegie Hall and they also enrolled me in a lot of competitions. More importantly, everyone is really enthusiastic and encouraging and that really inspires you to learn and improve.”

Board of Education Chairman Mary Grace Reed, who joined administrators in enjoying the festival, credited community support and the string program’s excellent teachers with the program’s success.

“The districtwide festival is a Farmington tradition well over 20 years old that’s unique to Farmington,” Reed said. “It includes second to twelfth-grade students, combined for one voice in celebration of a terrific string program, which would not be possible without the support of the community and the talent of Farmington’s music teachers, who are without comparison."

Over those 20 years, the strings program has increased tremendously. The first districtwide strings festival was held in the high school auditorium, strings teacher Janet Fantozzi remembered. Soon, the event will require three separate concerts to allow enough space for performers.

She attributes the growth of the program to its quality and to the caliber of its teachers.

“Children want to be part of a program that fun and exciting with teachers who are passionate and dedicated and respectful of children. That combination pulls children into the program. It’s exciting to make good music, whether it’s Twinkle, Twinkle or Beethoven’s Ninth… and it’s amazing to see them go from Mississippi Stop Stop to Beethoven’s Ninth.”

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