The Fine Arts Festival happened last Wednesday, October 15th, 2025, at Tumwater High School. The choir, orchestra, and band played in it, and they hung artworks by students in the commons.
I interviewed the three directors of the Festival: Peter Klinzman, Rachel Landowski, and Harrison Fry, and asked them for their thoughts. I then interviewed a bunch of students who played in the Festival and asked them what they played and their thoughts on the concert.
The Schedule
First, the Jazz Band started by playing “Switch in Time” by Sammy Nestico.
After that was Notables Choir, singing “Look for the Silver Lining” arranged by Andy Stermer.
Then, Teagan Maffeo stood up and gave us a speech from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” to encourage people to go to the school play this week.
Next, Philharmonic Choir sang “You are Light” by Mark Burrows.
The Orchestra went next, playing “Blue Sky Horizon” by Randall Standridge.
Then, the Symphonic Choir sang “Non Nobis Domine” by Rosephanye Powell.
Before the final show, the THS Band played Pelican Dance arranged by Norm Wallen, a former Tumwater School District string teacher.
Finally, all of the groups joined together to play “We Go On” by Don Dorsey from the Walt Disney Resort Millennium Celebration at EPCOT.
The Teacher Interviews
Rachel Landowski, the choir teacher at both BMS and THS, told me that she is “really proud of [Notables] for coming together as a group and making something lovely together.” She said the Philharmonic Choir was very confident and full of energy, and that she is very excited to see how far they go this year. Lastly, she said the Symphonic Choir performed “like the seasoned group they are and showed great leadership for the rest of the singers.”
Peter Klinzman, the band and orchestra teacher at THS, and the 8th Grade orchestra teacher, told me that “It was the strongest Fine Arts Festival since Covid-19.” He said all of the kids played great and sounded great, and he is very proud of everyone who performed.
Harrison Fry, the theater director, told me it was such a fun night to celebrate the incredible students in all of the arts.
The Student Interviews
Natalie Seaton, a senior, plays cello with the orchestra and sings in both the notables and symphonic choir. She thinks the concert was “very well done and very solid overall, each group had a really fun piece to listen to, and I really enjoyed listening to all of them and getting to perform so many different times.”
Hunter Griggs, a junior, plays the euphonium (also known as the baritone). He said, “The band did well, the orchestra was pretty good, and the choir was questionable.” Later, he told me to change questionable to mediocre. I told him no, but I’m still going to put this here. : )
Christian Garcia, a junior, is a bass in the symphonic choir. He said the concert went really good and everyone did amazing, including the band and orchestra.
Savannah Smith, a junior, plays the viola in orchestra. She said the concert went pretty well, and that her teacher thought it was the best one in a long time. She also said that she really liked the song the jazz band did.
Paige Bogart, a junior, said that she plays the violin and thought the concert went really well. She said, “There’s always a different pressure when an audience is watching while we’re playing, but I think we did good and we presented our talent well enough.”
Samantha Karner, a senior, said that she is an alto/soprano in Philharmonic Choir. She said that each music group at the concert did wonderful.
Her sister, Kendall Karner, is also in the philharmonic choir but is a soprano. She said she feels like every group did very well.
Li Replogle, a junior, currently plays the cello in orchestra. She said the concert went well. She also told me, “Considering the little amount of individual and joint practices each group had, both the individual and group pieces went better than I expected.”
Hayden Wood, a senior, is a bass in the choir. He said that everyone did great, and “when we all played together, it was really great and sounded really good.”
Jenevieve Jungkuntz, a senior who plays the violin, said that the concert was great and that all the groups did well.
Kaelynn Nolan, a senior, is in the symphonic choir and is a second soprano. She thought the concert went really well and told me that “some of the choir kids were dancing behind the risers while the band was playing, which was fun.” Overall, she thinks it was a super easy and fun concert to start the year.
Kat Seaton, a sophomore, plays the oboe. She thinks the orchestra sounded really good with their piano accompaniment, and I loved the solo from Payton West in Notables, and the band sounded really balanced.
Gabriel Sweet, a junior who is in percussion, said that in the festival, he did drumset for the jazz band, and vibraphone and xylophone for the concert band. He thought that every group shines in their own ways, saying, “The orchestra had incredible dynamics, the band had lots of funky moments and raw power, and the choir had lots of variety in their music and was fun to listen to. All together, when everyone played We Go On, it was amazing and I hope I get to do another tune with them next year.”
Wrap Up
All in all, each of the music groups did a great job on their first concert, and I hope we hear more amazing tunes from them. In the gallery, you will see a bunch of photos from the concert, and the artwork that was displayed in the commons.
