The auditions for the first round of the All-State Choir were on September 20, 2025. With a staggering success, 97 of The Woodlands High School’s choir members advanced to the next level, breaking last years record of 90 students. The top 72 girls and top 50 boys, per voice part, advance to the next round, regional auditions, which will take place next month on October 20.
In total, 453 students advanced, meaning that 21% of advancing students were from TWHS. Out of the 97 TWHS members that advanced, 23 students were placed in the top five of their ‘rooms’.
According to the choir director, Patrick W. Newcomb, students go through several levels of auditions with the eventual goal of making the Texas All-State Choir. The sequence of auditions are as follows:
- District Auditions are in September. Any Choir Member can sign up to audition. The TWHS choir is part of TMEA Region 9, which includes the following districts: Conroe, Tomball, Klein, Magnolia, Montgomery, Willis, Splendora, Cleveland, & Huntsville.
- Region Auditions are in October. The students who advanced at District audition again.
- All-Region Choir Performance is in November. All students who earned membership at Region Auditions will perform together.
- Pre-Area Auditions are in December, Students who advanced from Region Auditions. The top five singers in each voice part will advance.
- January is the final auditions, the Area Auditions. Composed of the students who advanced from the Pre-Area Auditions. Four regions compete at these auditions.
- In February, the members who advanced from the Area Auditions will earn membership and will perform in the Texas All-State Choir in San Antonio.
Newcomb shared that most choir members have been practicing the music “since the school year began.” The director also “had a decent number [of students] check their music out over the summer and attend summer workshops and camps to begin preparing.”
Newcomb has also been offering after-school rehearsals to his students, which “have had 117 students attend at least one rehearsal; most [students] attended one a week,” there were even a few students who “attended every after-school rehearsal [he] offered.”
When asked why he believes there has been so much success this year, Newcomb had the following to say: “ there are a lot of talented students who are willing to work hard and put extra time in.” He also said that the students are “incredibly supportive and encouraging of one another and make the process fun for each other.”
“The choir program works really hard to promote growth opportunities for the choir students and more than the results, we value the process,” he added. Expressing that “working hard on music (or any craft/skill) to prepare for a presentation, performance or contest, is a valuable life skill.”
He even reassures his students that “even if [they] don’t advance, [they] will grow through the process if [they’re] willing to put the time in.” Newcomb expressed that he “couldn’t be prouder of TWHS Choir kids.”
The students that placed top five in their rooms and advanced to the next round include the following:
Andrew Wells, Lucy Stringer, Andrew Seager, Virginia Russel, Hana Reel, Elizabeth Pirkle, Aanika Peri, Anna Metting, Otto Lopez, DeAnna Lewis, Anna Kakadjian, Saara Iyer, Vannesa Hunter, Siddhartha Gottumukkula, Leonardo Diaz de Leon, Jessi DeMouy, Zoe Deen, Noe Cruz Garcia, Sophia Conlon, Olivia Conaway, Jaedyn Chatman, Leah Bronfman, and Allie Borgmeyer.
All the other students who advanced to the next round include the following:
Angela Alegrias, Eduardo Alvarado Ramos, Bella Asma, Amelia Avedikian, Mark Bennick, Anthony Canale, Abigail Chu, Vanessa Cisneros, Joshua Colburn, Brian Delacotera, Amalia Diaz, Tharak Enjamur, Portia Fiato, Andrew Ford, Matthew Fudickar, Sophia Gibbons, Conrad Goetz, Annisa Gopal, Virika Gopal, Sahasra Gottumukkula, Dallin Haight, Emily Havey, Emilio Hernandez, Logan Hyatt, Maria Ibarra, Annie Jason, Sophia Johnson, Aseema Joshi, Shannon Kaldahl, Anna Kamura, Yeohak Kang, Charley Kaye, Kennedy Kolterjahn, Aadyasree Marthy, Samantha Mason, Olivia McWilliams, Jaelyn Moore, Jessica Morcos, Wesley Morris, Sofia Navarro Serrano, Andrea Navarro Serrano, Annabelle Nigh, Charlotte Nuckols, Armando Nunez, Aimalohi Ohiro, Osionoje Ohiro, Meghan Pearce, Elena Pinkerton, Luke Pontius, Suzanna Popoola, Melissa Price, Amelia Quelly, Sameer Rahman, Constanza Ramirez, Corrigan Sadlier, Quinn Sadlier, Alara Salih, Isha Santhanakrishnan, Laura Santos, Camila Saucedo, Dylan Shumate, Devon Shumate, Mikel Side-Anene, Sria Siva, Cayne Smarr, Ella Steelman, Braden Stern, Leah Swart, Hailee Teegardin, Jordan Torres, Grace Trahan, Justice Vanvleet, Shelby Williams, and Juliet Young.
