Glendale High School senior Zach Moore first took up the trombone in the sixth grade. His playing has progressed to the point that he's earned Bass Trombone in the All-State Orchestra, first-chair trombone in both the All-District Honor Band and the District 9 Jazz Band, serves as Principal Trombone in the Springfield Youth Symphony, and recently performed with the elite U.S. Army All-American Marching Band.
His latest achievement is undoubtedly the biggest yet: Zach was chosen, out of more than 18,000 applicants nationwide, to be one of 750 talent student musicians to participate in the High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall in New York on Sunday February 7. In fact, Zach was named Principal Trombone for the Honors Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jeffrey Grogan.
For Zach, playing the trombone "just looked fun, honestly. I wasn't much into Band or anything when I first started--my friends were playing it, and I felt like it would just be something fun to do."
Zach was actually unaware of the Honors Performance Series. It was Glendale Band Director Troy Cronkhite who nominated him. "And my mom and grandparents really pushed me towards it. I didn't really want to audition because I didn't think I'd make it, really didn't think I had a chance to make it. But I'm glad I did it. I sent in a video performance and my resume of everything that I've done... I guess they liked it!" Evidently they did--a lot. And Zach considers it "a huge honor. I didn't think I'd make it, let alone take the (Principal chair). I don't know," he says modestly, "if they consider that the 'top' chair, or they just thought I'd make a good Principal Trombone in the orchestra or what... but it's like a huge accomplishment--I'm really proud of it."
The orchestra will perform three pieces on February 7th in Carnegie Hall, a venue Zach has never visited before--let alone performed in. The major work is the Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, which Zach acknowledges is "pretty extensive. The other two (pieces) are more slow and mellow for the most part. And yeah, they're going to be challenging, but they're gonna be fun too."
After graduating from Glendale this spring, what are Zach's plans? "I'm actually still applying for colleges, exploring what I can do in the future. I'm thinking about going into Computer Sciences, but that's still to be decided. I might end up going into music (as a major) after all. I'm highly considering it, just because a) scholarships. I want to be in a college band or something, definitely. But I don't know if I want to necessarily make that my career, because once I start doing as a job it just kind of takes the fun out of it!"
