November 20, 2020

Earning a chair in the Texas all-state music ensembles sponsored by the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) are 35 outstanding Plano ISD musicians.

All students submitted recorded auditions that were judged against hundreds of other performances. Typically, these students would now be preparing to attend the TMEA Clinic/Convention in February in San Antonio. In September of 2020, TMEA announced that this year’s event will be virtual as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Concert band and choral all state auditions will conclude in early January. Congratulations to these young musicians for their commitment to excellence:

Symphony Orchestra

Violin

• Katie Chang, Plano West Senior High (second chair)
• Steven Lu, Jasper High School (seventh chair)
• Tarunkrishna Ramji, Jasper High School
• Sophia Wang, Jasper High School

Viola

• Arman Deendar, Plano West Senior High (seventh chair) 
• Ian Chen, Jasper High School
• Ashish Samson, Jasper High School (first chair)

Cello

• Derek He, Jasper High School (third chair)
• Hanson Xu, Plano Senior High School

Philharmonic Orchestra

Violin

• Sua Bae, Plano West Senior High School
• Jessica Ding, Plano West Senior High School
• Julia Duan, Jasper High School
• Brian Jung, Jasper High School

Viola

• Ian Lai, Plano Senior High School
• Laura Tan, Jasper High School
• Ethan Wu, Plano Senior High School
• Nathan Wu, Jasper High School

Cello

• Joscelynn Palen, Plano West Senior High School
• Eric Pan-Wang, Jasper High School
• Jacob Roy, Plano East Senior High School

String Bass

• Henry Rutnam, Jasper High School

Sinfonietta Orchestra

Violin

• Ivy Chen, Plano Senior High School
• Arianna Fa, Shepton High School
• Priscilla Lee, Plano West Senior High School
• Samuel Susanto, Plano Senior High School

Viola

• Wei-Jet Chiew, Plano Senior High School
• Nathan Daniel, Plano East Senior High School
• Christine Kim, Plano West Senior High School

Cello

• Matthew Lin, Plano West Senior High School

String Bass

• Karthik Iyer, Plano West Senior High School

Jazz Ensemble 1

Alto Saxophone

• Connor MacLeod, Plano West Senior High School (first chair)

Jazz Guitar

• Owen Underwood, Plano West Senior High School (first chair)

Jazz Ensemble 2

Tenor Saxophone

• Chris Ghaffar, Plano West Senior High School (third chair)

Drums

• Colman Burks, Plano West Senior High School (fourth chair) 

To Be Determined

• Alena Zhang, Jasper High School (third chair)