FESTIVAL

Graphic Novelist Gareth Hinds Visits Sjc

IN MARCH 2022, St. John’s welcomed back graphic novelist Gareth Hinds for the school’s third annual Audience with an Author event. Hinds graduated from the Parsons School of Design and worked in video game design before becoming a full-time graphic novelist. He has adapted several classic works of literature to the graphic novel format, including Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, The Odyssey, and Beowulf. During the summer of 2022, St. John’s AP English Literature and Composition students read Hinds’s adaptation of Beowulf, John Gardner’s Grendel, and portions of Seamus Heaney’s translation of the original Old English poem. This seminar provided students with the opportunity to discuss these works with Hinds and present their own compositions.

IN APRIL 2022, student musicians traveled to Florida accompanied by Director of Bands and Performing Arts Ken Hammann and Director of Vocal Music Kate Fernandez to compete in the Worldstrides Orlando Music Festival. St. John’s took home the following prestigious awards:

GOLD: WIND ENSEMBLE COMP JAZZ ENSEMBLE ADVANCED VOCAL STUDIES

SILVER: STRING ORCHESTRA

INVITATIONS TO FESTIVAL OF GOLD: WIND ENSEMBLE ADVANCED VOCAL STUDIES

1ST PLACE IN DIVISION: COMP JAZZ

TOP BAND GROUP: COMP JAZZ

BEST COMBINED INSTRUMENTAL PROGRAM: COMP JAZZ

WIND ENSEMBLE

BEST OVERALL COMBINED PROGRAM: COMP JAZZ

WIND ENSEMBLE ADVANCED VOCAL STUDIES

TOP SOLOISTS: GRANT WARD ’23, TROMBONE NICOLAS HENSAL ’24, TENOR SAX