NHS music students honored at district conference
BY MARLI GUZZETTA
Nantucket High School earned recognition four times over at the Southeast District Music Festival in Duxbury, Mass., last Saturday.

From left, students Josef Kardell, River Bennett, Skyler Lendway and Jacob Butler.

Seventy-five schools from the Southeast public school districts attended the festival, which offered for the first year a musical composition competition. NHS senior Josef Kardell took the top honor in the competition's inaugural year. Having utilized cutting

- edge computer technology available

to him at the school - specifically the Sibelius, ProTools and Final Cut music programs - Kardell composed on the computer his winning piece, "Funeral in the Rain," which was performed at the festival.

NHS Music Director Barbara Elder and music teacher Erik Wendelken traveled with the students.

"Erik and I are very proud of the work Josef did to submit this composition; he's a natural talent but he also worked hard," said Elder, who described Kardell's piece as an intricate string quartet that sounds modern but is also tonal. When asked to compare it to the style of a composer, she said, "It's in the style of Josef Kardell."

Two NHS Juniors - Jacob Butler (tenor) and Skyler Lendway (bass) - earned the distinction of performing in the 160-member Southeast District Chorus at the festival, while sophomore River Bennett (cello) was one of only 80 chosen to participate in the Southeast District Orchestra. (At the November audition, Butler and Lendway received high enough scores to audition for the All-State level in January.)

Having been chosen with other students from the 75 participating schools, the three students rehearsed with their peers in the chorus and orchestra all day Friday and Saturday under college conductors, then performed at the end of

the festival on Saturday. I