Bellingham High School Concert Band Wins Gold at MICCA 2025
By Jennifer Russo
The Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) recently held statewide festivals for school bands and choral groups. MICCA’s mission is to promote music education by offering several festival opportunities, promoting educator clinics, and granting scholarships annually to students pursuing careers in music education.
Each group is evaluated and scored by a panel of professionals on tone quality, balance and blend, technical facility, articulation, dynamics, and more. The group is also provided with a 25-minute clinic from one of the adjudicators with recorded comments and the performance recording, to help the group understand what it did well and where it might improve.
The Concert and Choral Festivals were held across three days and over 10,000 music students participated across the state. Bellingham High School was one of the host locations and middle and high school students from many local schools participated, including Bellingham High, Nipmuc Regional, Benjamin Franklin Charter School, Westborough High, Blackstone-Millville Regional, Franklin High, Wilson Middle School, and others.
The Bellingham High School Concert Band took home a GOLD medal win, performing three selections at the festival, including Jaime Texidor’s Amparito Roca March, Yukiko Nishimuro’s Northern Lights, and Symphony No. 1 “In Memoriam Dresden” by Daniel Bukvich. These dedicated students worked very hard at their school day rehearsals and also had the opportunity to work with guest conductor Mr. Jason Bielik, the music director for the Medfield Public Schools.
The concert band were also selected by a lottery and invited to perform for the Gold Medal Showcase performance at Groton Hill Music Center, along with twenty-two other gold medal ensembles on April 13th, which was a wonderful experience.
“A large thank you to the parents and volunteers of Bellingham Friends of Music, especially President Beth Sullivan. The Bellingham Concert Band owes a great deal to this non-profit’s endless support. Dr. Peter Marano, Superintendent of Schools and BHS Principal Megan Lafayette have been incredibly supportive of the music program,” shares Bellingham Fine Arts Department Head and Band Director, Marie Forte.
Bellingham’s Music Program had additional medals at the 2025 MICCA Festival, including a silver medal won by the BHS Chorus under the direction of Kaitlyn Braman, a silver medal won by the BHS 8th Grade Band under the baton of Marie Forte, and a silver medal won by the BMS 7th Grade Band with music teacher Timothy MacDonald.
Congratulations to all of these amazing Bellingham music students on their wins – keep up the great work!
