Colony students to perform in Tournament of Roses Parade

PALMER — Roughly one million people attend the Tournament of Roses Parade each year, held in celebration of the annual college football Rose Bowl.

At the 128th annual event, parade performers will count two students from Colony High School among them.

Senior Lunia Oriol, a clarinet player, and sophomore Catrina Carte, a tuba, bass trombone and sousaphone player, will perform in the parade on Jan. 2, 2017 in Pasadena, Calif.

The two will play with 298 other band students selected for participation by the Bands of America Honor Band.

“I’m looking forward to meeting other members of the clarinet section,” Oriol said. “And, going to Disneyland. I haven’t been to Disneyland in eight years.”

After arriving Dec. 28 and slogging through two days of rehearsals – up at 5:30 a.m., and to bed at 10 p.m. – the two will have their first performance at Band Fest, a day-long marching band festival held at Pasadena College Stadium. Then, they’ll ring in the new year on Jan. 1 with a performance at Disneyland, the day before the big event, the Tournament of Roses Parade.

“Marching,” Carte said when asked what she’s most looking forward to. “That experience, and performing with the sousaphone.”

Carte really loves marching bands. She played a soulful rendition of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” in the Frontiersman office on her tuba on Saturday. She’d never played it before, she said, but, like most people, she has heard the tune. That was enough for her to compose on the fly, from memory.

Both students applied online for the opportunity to play with Bands of America Honor Band. As part of the application, they had to submit a video of themselves playing the “Stars and Stripes Forever,” as well as of a run through of one minor and one major scale.

The two learned in February of this year that they had been selected to perform.

Oriol lauded the patience and dedication of Colony High School band teacher Jamin Burton.

It’s thanks to him, she said, that Colony has such a stellar band music program.

Oriol said she’s applying to the University of Michigan and its engineering program, to pursue a career in electrical engineering. She’ll also be auditioning for the university’s marching band, she said.

Carte has a couple more years of high school yet to go and is not yet sure what colleges she’ll be applying to. But she does know what she wants to do with her life—pursue a career in music performance.

To that end, she’ll be auditioning for the prestigious Drums Corps International program in her senior year, and possibly in her junior year as well to get a feel for how well she does.

Selected participants in the Drum Corps International program receive room, board, and expert instruction in music performance for the duration of a summer. Billed as “Marching music’s major league,” the 30-year-old program also hosts performances through the summer by its student participants, and sees around 400,000 fans attend the performances each year. Carte said involvement in the corps will be an important step for her in advancing through her career path.

For those readers interested in watching, the 128th annual Tournament of Roses Parade will be available via livestreaming at 7 a.m. Alaska Time on Monday, Jan. 2 at www.nbc.com.