Juilliard Jazz Orchestra coaches THS Jazz Combo

Jazz Band Students at Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts had the privilege of having a clinic with The Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, and their director, Carl Allen.

On Thursday March 3, 2011 , the talented Juilliard Jazz Orchestra was in town and performed for a packed audience that evening at Tuacahn High School's Hafen Theatre. While Juilliard has its campus in New York, it also has an affiliation with Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. Always wanting to expose local student musicians to a variety of high caliber performers, Jason Bonham, Director of Instrumental Music at Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts, arranged for Juilliard to perform at Tuacahn. In addition, he also arranged for local school's music students to have clinics with this elite group. The students really enjoyed working with the Juilliard coaches, and many stayed for the outstanding concert that night as well.

Juilliard and Snow College awarded two full scholarships to the Juilliard Jazz Summer Workshop at Snow College to THS students, Jeffry Chapman,bass (4th from left) and David Edmunds, guitar (3rd from left).

This is part of an article that was originally published in Alive! Utah South Area, an online magazine.

THS Instrumental Music Students Excel at SUPAF

Tuacahn Titans Instrumental Music students did very well this year at Southern Utah Performing Arts Festival.

Four of our THS students were recognized as outstanding musicians in their category at this year's SUPAF Festival. Sabrina Parry (violin), Keely Schmerber (piano), Jeffry Chapman (bass), and Adam Garceau (trumpet) were all recognized for outstanding solo performances


Jeffry Chapman and Adam Garceau show their certificates at SUPAF awards night.

Keely Schmerber and Sabrina Parry show their certificates at the SUPAF Awards Night

Keely Schmerber winner of Dixie's Got Talent!

Congratulations to Keely Schmerber, Instrumental Music student at THS for winning the youth division of the 2011 Dixie's Got Talent! Keely is an accomplished pianist, and wowed the audience with her beautiful music! She performed "Concert Etude #3 'Unsospiro' in D flat major" by Franz Liszt. Keely said that winning was the happiest moment of her life, and thanked her parents, grandparents and God.

Keely is in the Chamber Orchestra at THS, a member of THS's women's concert choir, Radiante, and maintains a 4.0 GPA. Keely is studying piano with Dr. Nancy Allred of Dixie State College. Prior to moving to Southern Utah, she and her family lived in New Jersey. She has won many piano competitions, and was awarded a solo performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This summer, she will be studying music and art in Tolentino, Italy at the Instituto Musicale.

You can read more about Dixie's Got Talent on the KCSG Television website here.

THS's All Shook Up in the Press

Our production of All Shook Up, was written up and posted on the Theatrical Rights blog. You can read the article here. The THS run of All Shook Up ran Jan 22-29 at Dixie State College in St. George, Utah. The production start coincided with Utah Theatre Association's 2011 conference, and played to sold out crowds during its run.

It was the first time Tuacahn High School held a production outside of the Tuacahn campus. Jan and Andy Hunsaker felt that in holding the production at Dixie State College, they were able to attract new audience members. Additionally, the students in the production were able to get exposure to drama/MDT departments throughout the state. There was national exposure as well.

The production was a huge success. The students did a fantastic job, it was very well received by the audiences, and there were some offers for students to come to College/University scholarship auditions. Congratulations to the Hunsakers, JP Kentros, Joshua Scott and to all of our talented MDT students.

Keely Schmerber prepares for Dixie's Got Talent Finale

Keely Schmerber

Dixie's Got Talent 2011 Finalist

THS's own Keely Schmerber, a freshman in the Music Academy, is one of the 15 finalists in Dixie's Got Talent for 2011. Last Fall, more than 100 individuals and groups auditioned for this annual competition. Keely, a talented pianist, wowed the judges, and is now in the final competition to be held Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 7:30 pm in the Cox Auditorium at DSC.

Come show your support of Keely in this annual scholarship fundraiser event for DSC!

Student to Perform at Tuacahn Saturday Market

At THS, we have some amazing talent. Our students excel in music, drama, MDT, art, dance and academically. One of our very talented students is Crystal Jackson.

You may have seen Crystal in Tuacahn productions such as High School Musical and High School Musical 2. She has also been in a variety of THS productions, including Rags, Damn Yankees, White Christmas (Martha Watson) and Once on this Island (Asaka). This summer, Crystal has been a Swing Singer for Tuacahn's production of Disney's Tarzan.

Crystal will be singing at Tuacahn Saturday Market on Saturday September 25, 2010. You will not want to miss her performance!

Students Perform at Saturday Market

Tuacahn students are enjoying a wonderful summer, and getting some performance opportunities. Summer Morris and David Edmunds are pictured here. Summer sang some patriotic songs, accompanied by David. David also played some classical guitar selections.

At noon, Josh Putnam (not pictured) sang for the crowd.

If you'd like an opportunity to perform at Tuacahn Saturday Market, contact Rosemary in the gift shop!