Carnegie Hall—a world-class concert hall with legendary sound. Celebrated musicians from around the world in a wide variety of genres have shared their music on its stage: Tchaikovsky, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Yo-Yo Ma, Marian Anderson, Luciano Pavarotti, Vladimir Horowitz, Duke Ellington, the Beatles, Sarah Vaughan, Elton John, Destiny’s Child—just to name a few.

The best high school musicians also have an opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall each year as part of the High School Honors Performance Series. This year, Chip Krese ’23 played at the Hall for the second time. As a ninth-grader, he played in the Honors Band, and this February he was selected, along with other young musicians from around the world, to play in the Honors Orchestra under the direction of conductor Kirt Mosier.

Once he knew he would be going to Carnegie Hall, Chip started practicing. He and the other musicians would have just two days in New York to prepare together. “It was fun to work under [Mosier],” says Chip. “You could tell he really wanted to bring out the best in us, and I think that's what brought us together as a group.”

Pieces in the program included Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky, Alasdroim by Mosier, and the overture to Nabucco by Verdi.  “The music was a little bit harder to learn this time around, and I liked that because it gave me a little bit of a challenge.” Another challenge for Chip? He would be performing a solo in the Nabucco overture. There wasn’t time to do a soundcheck, so the first time he heard himself play in the Hall was while he was performing the solo on stage, in front of the audience: “It was a great moment…the Hall holds your sound, and it just rings.”

Band Director Emily Park nominated Chip for the Honors program:

Chip puts in the time and effort in his practice not only to better himself technically on his trumpet but to read between the notes on the page and bring them to life with his own characteristic musical voice. He is the epitome of a well-rounded musician and someone that many of our younger musicians in the band look up to.”

Having the opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall this year was particularly meaningful for Chip: “It’s been kind of a hard two years for music, especially since the fun thing about music is getting together and playing with other people, which is obviously something we really haven’t been able to do.” During the pandemic, he played along with bands on YouTube and did plenty of practicing on his own. That kept him going, but there is nothing like playing next to other musicians for a live audience.