Music students from across Wyoming recently gathered in the Nelson Performing Arts Center to compete at the annual music festival. Throughout April 21-22, 2026, the halls were filled with the sound of singing and the playing of different instruments as these musicians prepared to perform in front of adjudicators from the Wyoming Music Educators Association.
The PHS Concert Band earned a 3 superior ranking at this music assessment, marking the 18th consecutive year this musical group has earned a superior ranking.
“Our Powell High School bands have received superior rankings every year since 2009,” band director John Fabela said. “We’re very proud of that, and so we want to continue that culture of excellence in the future by taking judges’ feedback about attention to detail, good intonation, and understanding the music beyond the fundamentals we talk about in class.”
The Concert Choir also received a superior ranking, showing audience members that there’s more to singing than reading sheet music and using their mouths as instruments.
“I think the concert choir, in particular, has been developing strong musicianship skills,” choir director Ms. Drew Murray said. “Obviously, Concert Choir already has the skills of music learning, pitch matching, intonation, and rhythm skills, and those kinds of skills helped us receive superior rankings.”
The a cappella vocal group, Erocne, also received superior rankings. They received two perfect scores and were only one point from receiving three perfect scores.
“The thing that makes Erocne so successful is the internal motivation of the group,” Ms. Murray said. “It’s really hard to motivate a choir that I don’t have control of, and there are no consequences if they don’t want to be good, but they want to be good, and they want each other to be good, and so they motivate each other, and they keep each other accountable, and that’s what makes that choir so successful.”
This festival allows musicians to perform not only with their musical groups but also gives them the chance to sharpen their independence by performing a solo or small ensemble.
This year, nine students performed a solo for the band, and all nine received superior rankings. The choir also found success with thirty participants receiving superior or excellent rankings on their independent performances.
Junior Anika Anderson performed a trumpet solo entitled “The Cavalier,” and she thought this was an amazing opportunity for her to learn and take feedback from the adjudicators.
“My judge gave me feedback that I’ve gotten on every solo I’ve done every year, which was that I needed to have more breath support,” Anderson said. “So that’s something I’m definitely going to work on for the next solo I do.”
Sophomore Jospeh Bott performed a choral duet called “Bella Ciao” and was one of the top duets in the state of Wyoming.
“Being one of the top duets was surprising at first, considering we have a very small population and we didn’t prepare as well,” Bott said. “But I’m still very proud since it’s such a high honour to be at the top, especially for something challenging like performing in a small group or solo at MPA.”
MPA is an event where directors and musical students receive constructive criticism. They apply this feedback to their music group by reviewing their score sheets and finding ways to grow and improve for next year’s festival.
“I have one more MPA before I retire, so there’s definitely no way I’m going to slack off and risk us not continuing our record,” Mr. Fabella said. “So we’re definitely going to listen and take the feedback we received from the judges and apply it to next year so we can be even stronger as a group.”
The annual music festival is a time for students to not only showcase their vocal or instrumental skills but also demonstrate their commitment to learning and growing with their full ensemble or as musicians. PHS musicians have the ability to learn and grow with this feedback and carry on the musical tradition that this school offers for generations to come.
