Shen. Valley hosts Jr. County Band for second time
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Michael Ryan gestures to the band between selections during the Junior Schuylkill County Band concert at Shenandoah Valley on March 16, 2024.
SHENANDOAH – For the second time in the festival’s 52 year history, Shenandoah Valley hosted the Junior Schuylkill County Band festival, culminating in a concert Saturday afternoon.
Over 100 middle school musicians from 13 Schuylkill County schools came together as one for the festival, under the direction of Michael F. Ryan, a retired longtime music teacher from Pottsville.
Before a capacity crowd in the Shenandoah Valley High School auditorium, the musicians performed a variety of selections, including “Drums on a Budget,” in which percussionists used makeshift items, and “Sounds of Sousa,” a collection of marches.
Northern Schuylkill County is a recent addition to the festival, which began as the Junior Twin Valley Band Festival in 1972 with schools from southern and western Schuylkill County, upper Dauphin County, and lower Northumberland County.
Eventually, the out-of-county schools left, schools from the remainder of the county joined, and in 2009, the festival was renamed the Junior Schuylkill County Band Festival.
Today, 13 schools are involved, including Blue Mountain, Mahanoy Area, Minersville, North Schuylkill, Pine Grove, Pottsville, Saint Clair, Schuylkill Haven, Saint Jerome’s Regional, Shenandoah Valley, Tamaqua, Tri-Valley, and Williams Valley.
The first concert hosted in our part of the county was in 1999, hosted by North Schuylkill by current Shenandoah Valley Band Director John Shoener’s father, Craig Shoener. The next year, it was in Mahanoy City, and in 2003, it was at Cardinal Brennan.
Shenandoah first hosted the festival in 2016 and, in total, the festival has been in northern Schuylkill seven times.
For Ryan, serving as guest conductor was a full-circle moment in his musical career.
He told the crowd that he performed in the first festival in 1972. In 1995, as director at Minersville, he hosted the festival. He did so again in 2007 and 2014 at Pottsville.
In 2016, he retired, stepping away from the conductor’s stand until John Shoener asked him to guest conduct.
Full Photo Gallery
Northern Schuylkill Participants
Shenandoah Valley
- Trista Karosas – Flute
- Ellie Miscannon – Flute
- Guadalupe Gutierrez Zamudio – Clarinet
- Gia Lukashunas – Clarinet
- Breonna Zelinsky – Tenor Saxophone
- Zacharia Kropp – Baritone Saxophone
- Colin Neidlinger – Trumpet
- Kaylee Arbushites – Trumpet
- Kairi Medina – Trumpet
- Chloe Arias – Horn
- Jesieliz Cruz Ortiz – Percussion
- Alex Daubert – Percussion
- Victoria Nork – Percussion
Mahanoy Area
- Tori Davis – Flute
- Emily Derr – Clarinet
- Allie Kachelries – Trumpet
- Emily Segura-Ramirez – Trumpet
- Marcus Fisher – Baritone
- Nathan Derr – Percussion
- Jacob Miller – Percussion
North Schuylkill
- Kyla Yesalusky – Flute
- Kayda Monberger – Clarinet
- Paige O’Neill – Clarinet
- Tanner Quinn – Bass Clarinet
- Makenna Rumbel – Alto Saxophone
- Nhysia Zimmerman – Tenor Saxophone
- Henry Evans – Trumpet
- Ella Stump – Trumpet
- Autumn Hendricks – Horn
- Gregory Stump – Trombone
- Landon Wetzel – Trombone
- Kayla Werner – Baritone
- Victoria Grose – Percussion
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