MSBOA All Star Orchestra

St. Johns High School, St. Johns, MI
January 18, 2025
Conductor - Ben Gudbrandson
On January 18, 2025, students who were nominated by their orchestra teachers participated in the District 5 MSBOA All-Star Orchestra event. The event was held at St. Johns High School and students came from Mt. Pleasant MS, Midland Jefferson MS, Midland Northeast MS, Saginaw White Pine MS and St. Johns MS. The students started working together in the morning with guest conductor and St. Johns HS alum Ben Gudbrandson (Class of 2008). After rehearsing throughout the day, they performed a concert for friends and family. St. Johns students who participated were Alexa Benner, Morgan Cook, Benjamin Davenport, Acadia Gentile, Henry Goff, Sydney Johnson, Isabella Lillmars, Nicholas McGillis, Parker Moser, Tessa Norris and Emerey Rosekrans.
Program
Phantom Train...............................................William Owens
Iowa Spring.............................................................. Paul Seitz
Fiddle Funk.........................Randy Sabien and Bob Phillips
Wood Splitter Fanfare...................................Brian Balmages
MSBOA Teachers
Emma Longoria-Mt. Pleasant MS
Anna Mamassian-Midland Northeast MS
Nellie Osantowski-Saginaw White Pine MS
Jennifer Parker-St. Johns MS
Amanda Thoms-Midland Jefferson MS
MSBOA District V All-Star Orchestra
Violin
Eden Bowen - White Pine
Emmary Bowen - White Pine
Diego Camacho Celis - Jefferson
Caroline Clerc - Northeast
Leah Cook - Northeast
Morgan Cook - St. Johns
Calvin Daut - Jefferson
Brooklyn Deisler - Northeast
Aanya Gupta - Jefferson
Wyatt James - White Pine
Julianna Kroll - Northeast
Garam Lee - Jefferson
Jayden Lee - Mt. Pleasant
Isabella Lillmars - St. Johns
Henna McDonald - Northeast
Parker Moser - St. Johns
Gabby Murray - Northeast
Tessa Norris - St. Johns
Harper Ostahowski - Jefferson
Kristine Saylor - Jefferson
Taylor Schanz - White Pine
Seungjun You - Jefferson
Viola
Rylee Alden - White Pine
Alexa Benner - St. Johns
Elliot Good - Jefferson
Emily Herman - Northeast
Sydney Johnson - St. Johns
Abbey Leach - White Pine
Erin Mall - White Pine
Elizabeth Qualls - Mt. Pleasant
Emerey Rosekrans - St. Johns
Marston Smith - Jefferson
Jayden Tran - White Pine
Hannah Vogel - Jefferson
Cello
Benjamin Davenport - St. Johns
Miles Decker - Mt. Pleasant
Ryker DeRuiter - Northeast
Tiegan Falvey - Jefferson
Acadia Gentile - St. Johns
Stacey Jensen - Mt. Pleasant
Nicholas McGillis - St. Johns
Sophie Plevinski - Mt. Pleasant
Zoe Stella - White Pine
Finnegan Theuerkauf - Jefferson
Katie Van Hampler - Northeast
Olivia Whiting - Jefferson
Bass
Tallyn Bowman - Northeast
Hannah D’Haene - White Pine
Henry Goff - St. Johns
Porter Rutledge - Jefferson
Ben Gudbrandson
Ben Gudbrandson is a cellist and orchestra teacher from Kalamazoo, Michigan. He graduated from Central Michigan University with his Bachelor's degree in Music Education in 2013. Since his graduation, Ben has lived in Kalamazoo where he teaches 4th-8th grade orchestra at Parkwood Upjohn Elementary School and Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts. In 2020 Ben was awarded the District 11 Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association’s Teacher of the Year. In 2024 Ben
was the recipient of the Gayle Hoogstraten Arts Leadership Award from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. In addition to his school day activities, in the 2017-2018 school year, Ben began his work as the Artistic Director of Kalamazoo Kids In Tune; an after school orchestra program servicing the musical and social needs of musicians 2nd-12th grade at Kalamazoo Public Schools. Through his work at Kids In Tune, Ben has had the opportunity to be a cohort member of PlayUSA, a program of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. For the past 8 years PlayUSA has played an important role in Ben’s development as an educator; challenging him to refine and develop his teaching practices and philosophies. Since that time, Gudbrandson has shared his strategies as a Core Faculty Member at Carnegie Hall’s Summer Music Educators Workshop. In addition he has presented sessions at the El Sistema USA National Conference, the Michigan Music Conference and PlayUSA professional development events as well as publishing an article for The Ensemble News.
When not teaching, Ben enjoys performing as a regular in the West Michigan orchestral and music theater scene. In his free time, Ben loves spending as much time as possible exploring the great outdoors with his wife Taylor, son Barrett and daughter Finley.