The Sachem Music Department congratulates senior Jaden Rudnicki (Sachem High School East) and junior Matthew Umbenhower (Sachem High School North) on being chosen to perform in the 2025 NAfME All-Eastern Honors Orchestra. The top students from the All-State ensembles of 11 Northeastern states and Washington, D.C., are chosen to participate in the biannual conference based on a combination of recommendation, audition, application and overall excellence. The groups are highly selective, with only 588 students from across the Northeastern United States making up the six ensembles.
Jaden Rudnicki, a horn player at East, recently performed at All-State for his second consecutive year. He spent this past summer studying horn at the Philadelphia International Music Festival and Camp and the International Horn Symposium in Colorado, as well as performing with the Island Symphony Orchestra and as a guest soloist in the Northport Community Band. Jaden currently attends the Manhattan School of Music Precollege program every Saturday, where he studies horn with Hugo Valverde of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He maintains an active performance schedule as principal horn with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra’s Suffolk Principal Orchestra and third horn in the Stony Brook University Orchestra. He has also performed with notable ensembles, including the Nassau Suffolk Wind Symphony, NYSCAME All-County Bands, the New York State Band Directors Association Honor Band and the Long Island Youth Orchestra. This past November, Jaden performed Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 with the New York Session Symphony before playing with the Macy’s Great American Marching Band for a third consecutive season. More recently, he was chosen as the winner of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, and he will be performing as a featured soloist with the ensemble in March. Jaden plans to pursue a double major in horn performance and music education in college.
Matthew Umbenhower performed with the All-State Symphony Orchestra on viola after being selected to participate on both viola and bass 1 (voice), having earned a perfect 100 on each of his NYSSMA All-State solos. The current North junior has been studying voice and viola both in school and privately since the fourth grade. At Sachem, Matthew is a member of the chamber orchestra, string ensemble, pit orchestra, symphonic choir, IMAGE a cappella choir and Tri-M Music Honor Society. Outside of school, he has performed on multiple occasions with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra’s Suffolk Symphonic Choir, in Long Island String Festival Association festivals, and with SCMEA and NYSCAME All-County choirs and orchestras. He performed with the Sound Symphony Orchestra in their summer concert series this past summer and plans to return next summer. While Matthew does not plan to major in music, he does intend to continue his musical studies through performance at the university level.
Jaden and Matthew will perform in the All-Eastern Honors Orchestra under the baton of Bruce Walker, an associate professor of music at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Washington. Mr. Walker has led youth orchestras and participated in many workshops and music festivals throughout the United States, as well as internationally, and is highly sought after as a guest conductor for all-state and honors orchestras throughout the country. The NAfME All-Eastern Conference will take place this year from April 24-27 in Hartford, Connecticut.
Date Added: 2/14/2025