Seniors Wyatt Cruz Lillegard and Sam Keating said it was a “true honor” to be selected to sing at the statewide choral event.

SLHS Choral Director Drew Benware said attending this conference is the highest musical honor in the state for high school singers, and that the two worked incredibly hard to get there.

The conference is an annual gathering of some of the best high school singers in the state, where they get together and make music in the Eastman Theater in Rochester.

To be accepted, they performed a solo piece of music in front of judges at a festival in May. They were judged on a score out of 100. To even be considered, singers need to score a 99 or 100.

From left, Saranac Lake High School Senior Wyatt Cruz Lillegard, SLHS Choral Director Drew Benware and SLHS Senior Sam Keating at the New York State School Music Association All-State festival last weekend. (Provided photo)

Keating sang the German art song “Allerseelen” by Richard Strauss. Cruz Lillegard sang “Lost in the Stars” from the 1949 Broadway musical of the same name by Kurt Weill.

It took months of deliberation from the judges, and lots of waiting for the students, who had to wait until September to learn they had been accepted.

“It was just magical,” Keating said.

Being in one room with 224 other people who care about music just as much as they do, under an amazing conductor, was a transformative experience, he said.

“It’s the kind of thing where it goes by so fast that you wish you could have appreciated it more when it was happening,” Keating said.

Around 225 New York high school singers, including Saranac Lake seniors Sam Keating and Wyatt Cruz Lillegard, sing at the New York State School Music Association All-State festival in Rochester last weekend. (Provided photo)

This was Keating’s second time at the All-State.

“It was my first time,” Cruz Lillegard said. “So as soon as we made those first sounds, I was just absolutely blown away by the sheer power and the unity of everybody there.”

Keating hopes to attend the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam to major in music education and become a choir director like Benware.

Cruz Lillegard said if he doesn’t major in music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, he’ll join a choir there.

“I will find a way to keep music in my life, no matter what,” he said.

Benware remembers attending All-State in his junior year of high school and said it was a formative experience for him, one which sent him on his path for his career. To see others have same experience was exciting.

“My goal as a music educator is not that everyone’s a music major, but that everyone has the need for music in their lives and they seek out opportunities,” Benware said.

“I just love to sing. I sing around the house. I sing everywhere I go. I sing in my head,” Cruz Lillegard said.

But he wasn’t going to sing in high school. That was until he met Benware and got excited about it.

Outside Benware’s office, there are articles pinned to a bulletin board about Keating’s older siblings –Matthew and Mary’s — accolades in singing.

Keating said he wasn’t sure if he was going to continue the family tradition in high school music. That was until he met Benware and Band Director Keith Kogut.

He said when he’s making music, and he knows it sounds good, that makes him want to make music all the more.

On Monday, the high school’s singers and musicians will be making music and song together.

“I don’t want to spoil anything, but we’re doing some stuff that’s a little bit unexpectedly hard,” Keating said.

Cruz Lillegard said there will be a broad spectrum of music at the concert.

“There’s something for everybody,” he said.

They had been worried after 20 very involved seniors graduated last year, but said their class and the younger classes are picking up the baton.

Cruz Lillegard and Keating had a wide range of music they performed at the All-State festival, too.

They started with “Nisi Dominus,” a Latin song setting Psalm 127 to music by Badlassare Galuppi and Keven T. Padworski.

Keating said the student’s overall favorite piece was “Hela Rotan,” an Indonesian folk song arranged by Ken Steven where their voices imitated instruments.

“It just made me want to move,” Cruz Lillegard said.

Then, they pivoted hard into a piece composed by their conductor, Andrea Ramsey, titled “A Hive of Frightened Bees” which is based on a poem by an Arvada, Colorado student named Taylor Huntley.

The poem was written days after the 2018 Parkland, Florida high school shooting when the Arvada West High School had threats of violence written in the school bathroom.

During the song, singers read the names of the most fatal school shootings in American history. They said Ramsey has added several occurrences since she first composed the song.

Cruz Lillegard said this was a powerful song to sing in and he was tearing up by the end of it.

They then sang “Holding the Light” by B.E. Boykin with a piano that sounds like shimmering light, Keating said. He loves the poetry of the song’s lyrics.

Next, they sang another composition by Ramsey — “Twainsong,” which sets humorous Mark Twain quotes to music. Keating and Cruz Lillegard said it took them a while to come around on the concept, but they ended up loving the piece.

Towards the end, they performed the African-American spiritual “I Don’ Feel No Ways Tired,” arranged by Stacey V. Gibbs. This was Cruz Lillegard’s favorite, as the song layers in voiced until it reaches this boisterous sound of praise and celebration.

“A concert program is not complete without a traditional spiritual,” Keating said.

They closed with the sweeping number “Measure Me, Sky!” by Elaine Hagenberg.

Benware is currently the state choral chair for the New York State School Music Association, so Cruz Lillegard and Keating got an inside look at how the annual conference gets organized.

After watching it, Benware said it made the countless hours of work worth it.

On Monday, the winter concert will be held at 7 p.m. at the high school auditorium. Tickets are free. Performances will include the high school vocal ensembles, jazz band and concert choir.

Also, on Monday, Keating and Cruz Lillegard will find out if their auditions in the spring will get them into the All-Eastern Ensemble in April.