The National Association for Music Education All-National Ensembles, first started in 2012, showcase the top performing high school musicians in the United States. Only one Trinity student had been accepted into the All-National Mixed Choir in the past, and none had auditioned for the All-National Symphony Orchestra because of the showcase’s distance from Florida and the level of expectation for its auditions. Of the numerous students that auditioned throughout the country this year, seniors Daniel Galvez and Lillian Pope were accepted to perform, and junior Marion (Molly) Pope was selected as an alternate.
Galvez spent the majority of his time at All-Nationals honing his singing skills, but said he was also reminded of how to make friends with new people and work with them to create music.
“The conductor was amazing and really inspired us to pull meaning from the music and make it mean something beyond just the words and the notes on the page,” Galvez said. “It was definitely a pretty life-changing experience.”
Galvez took part in his previous school’s choir in eighth grade and joined Trinity’s Vocal Society last year as a junior. With Vocal Society, he participated in the International Championship of High School A Cappella as well as the Candlelight Processional at Epcot.
“I’m not surprised that he’s done so well because his musicianship is strong, but his passion for music I think is what I appreciate the most within his accomplishments,” Music teacher Christina Carter said. “He’s a strong example of what we expect here at Trinity when he goes out to represent us.”
Lillian Pope has been the first chair cellist at All-State for the past two years, and this year, she participated as the seventh chair cellist in the All-National Symphony Orchestra.
“I was honored to play in a national group and represent the various orchestras I’m in and represent the school I go to,” Lilian Pope said. “I feel grateful that I was able to go to a conference that taught me a lot of things.”
Lilian Pope started playing the cello when she was five years old and joined the Honors Trinity Chamber Orchestra in seventh grade when she first came to Trinity. She is also a part of the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras.
“She has been a terrific leader at Trinity Prep,” Fine Arts teacher Maureen May said. “Her work ethic and her approach to the instrument has really been a good example for the other students. She’s always working hard, always has a good attitude, and balances fun with hard work.”
Marion Pope, along with being selected as an alternate for All-Nationals, has been participating in All-State and the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras and was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music summer program last summer. She has also been accepted for the past two years into the summer program at Boston University Tanglewood Institute, which has a long history of chamber music and top musicians from all over the country.
“All the members [of the Muir String Quartet at Tanglewood] were really enthusiastic about it and that rubbed off on me,” Marion Pope said. “I could read the music, but I didn’t understand what the meaning behind it really was until they showed me how they understand music.”
Marion Pope started playing the violin when she was four and the viola when she was five. She joined the Honors Trinity Chamber Orchestra the year she came to Trinity, becoming the first sixth grader that May allowed to join.
“Molly is just an exceptional talent,” May said. “She’s got this incredible innate musicality that you can’t practice. You’re either born with it or you’re not, and she was definitely born with it.”
Marion Pope plans to pursue a career in music and hopes to play the viola as a part of the Boston Symphony Orchestra or Philadelphia Orchestra. She is interested in having private students for both the violin and the viola. While Galvez and Lillian Pope will not be pursuing music as a career, Galvez plans to join an acapella group in college, while Lilian Pope wants to continue to play in an orchestra in college.
“I think music is a great way for me to feel some freedom because I’m allowed to sort of play a piece how I want to play it, and it’s sort of relaxing,” Lillian Pope said. “Auditions are stressful, but when I’m just playing music because I want to play it or if it’s a piece that I really enjoy playing or really like listening to, then it’s a fun break from other kinds of stress.”
