Two Manteca Unified students were chosen from among 2,586 applicants from across the state to participate in the California All-State Honor Bands this February in Fresno. 

Garrett Kmiec of Weston Ranch High and McKenzie Ringwood of Manteca High were chosen based on recorded auditions submitted in December. Kmiec and Ringwood will spend a weekend working with approximately 300 of the most skilled high school musicians in the state and present a public performance in conjunction with the California All-State Music Education Conference, the state’s largest professional development conference for music teachers.

Kmiec was selected to the Concert Band, which will be led by Joan de Albuquerque, Director of Bands at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Their performance will be 9 a.m. on Sunday, Feb, 17. Ringwood was selected to the Wind Symphony, under the direction of Professor Tony Maiello of George Mason University in Washington, D.C. Their concert will be presented on Saturday, Feb. 16. at 4:30 p.m. Both concerts will be held in the Saroyan Theatre in downtown Fresno and are free to the public.