Those who are chosen come together for several hours of lengthy rehearsals to prepare for an elaborate performance under some prestigious conductors before a large audience. The event, known as the ensemble festival, took place at the end of March and included a number of students from around the Kent County area.

Coventry High School, West Warwick High School, Deering Middle School in West Warwick and Toll Gate and Pilgrim high schools in Warwick each had a number of students who made the final cut at the competition and were featured in the performance.

Many kids strive for such an honor, but only a few achieve it, according to Bill Smith, one of the music teachers at Coventry High School.

"This is an opportunity for our kids to perform with the best music students in the state," Smith said. "It is not an easy competition and the kids that are there are usually pretty talented, so for our school to have sent the number that we did, we are definitely proud."

The students in the competition have to be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the major scales, sight read and perform music, and they must do this before a panel of musically talented professionals - a task Rebecca Searle, a ninth-grade student at Coventry High School who played the flute in the Junior All State Band, said was not so easy.

"The audition is the real nerve-wracking part," Searle said. "I know it was for me anyway. The judges are just focused on you. It was so stressful, I came out crying."

Knowing how many other talented students were participating was also challenging, many students said.

"There are so many kids that try out for this," said Kelsey Hopkins, a 10th-grade student at West Warwick High School who was selected for the senior All State Chorus group. "I think there had to be over 3,000 kids at that audition."

Hopkins sang alto in the chorus group. She was joined at the ensemble festival by nearly a dozen others from her town.

Meaghan Carley, an 11th-grader at West Warwick High, also sang in the chorus as did Christopher DeSanto, a ninth-grader, Erica Ventura and Chantell Arraial. Rebekah Varin, Abbie King, Katerina Gaglione, Chelsea Lisi and Brittany Menard, all from Deering Middle School, also participated with the All State Chorus group.

Amy Levesque and Meghanne Farmer, both seniors at West Warwick High School, played flute in the senior All State Concert Band and Julie VanGyven, another senior from the school, was selected as second best in the state at playing the bassoon.

Jessica Palardy, a senior at Coventry High School, was selected to play the clarinet in the senior All State division. Ninth-grader Rebecca Searle played the flute, James Mullen played the alto saxophone, Mike Nelson played the bass guitar, Ina Conway played the trumpet and Ethan Caffery played the French horn.

Michaela Tracy, Abby Card and Mike Naggy, all sophomores at Coventry High School, sang in the senior choral division.

Nora Palandjian, an 11th-grader from Toll Gate High School, was selected as the best violinist in the state. Nicole D'Albora, also from Toll Gate, was selected as the second best and Daniel Kirk, a tenth-grader at the school, was selected to play the viola in the senior division All State Orchestra. Michael Cherella, a senior at Toll Gate, was selected as first violinist for the senior orchestra for his grade level and as a tenor in the chorus.

"It's a pretty impressive thing for Warwick to have sent students to be a part of this group," said JoAnn Phillips, choir director at Pilgrim High School. "It is just an incredibly difficult performance and these kids were flawless."

The kids in the choral group sang songs in Latin and those that were a part of the band played songs that any musician would find challenging, Smith said.