On March 4th, the top two Centaurus orchestra groups, string and chamber orchestra, competed in the regional orchestra competition. Both groups received an overall Superior rating from the judges, which is the highest possible score that could have been awarded to the groups. Chamber orchestra was selected as one of thirty two groups in Colorado to compete in the State Contest.
For context, the Centaurus orchestra program is composed of three groups. The lowest is Concert orchestra, which mostly consists of freshmen. The middle group is String orchestra, which is mostly sophomores and juniors, but freshmen are able to audition to be a part of this group as well. The highest group is Chamber orchestra, which largely contains juniors and seniors, and is audition only. There are also a few freshmen who performed extraordinarily well on their auditions and were accepted into Chamber orchestra.
I interviewed Heather Murphy (she/her), the Centaurus Orchestra director, to get her thoughts on hosting the Colorado State competition and leading a group that would compete.
“Centaurus High School is hosting State for two reasons: our location of Metro State University was not available” and “the backup location of Ft. Collins High School became unavailable at the last minute… Centaurus happened to be the only school that was able to make such a large event work,” Mrs. Murphy shared. Additionally, I asked her what had to be done to make sure State ran smoothly at Centaurus. She told me that there was “a lot of grace and flexibility from those at Centaurus and in the community.” Also, she shared that “about 75% of our orchestra students are volunteering over the course of the two days to support the 32 groups that are coming in.” When asked her feelings about hosting State, Mrs. Murphy told me that she had “mixed feelings. I’m very glad that I am able to make sure that the festival is going to happen. I’m also very overwhelmed with the puzzle of it all and getting it all together in such a short time period. I know that it will all be worth it, though.”
When I asked Mrs. Murphy how she felt about directing a group that would perform at state, she replied, “I am so proud of the Chamber Orchestra for being accepted to State. We had an incredible day at Regionals and it was reflected in our scores as well as with our comments from the judges and clinicians.” She also shared that “since taking Chamber Orchestra to Regionals starting four years ago, they have made it State every year.”
In addition, Bella Gore (she/her), is a junior violinist in chamber orchestra, and she shared her thoughts about competing in State. She told me that “this year will be my third time going to state, I have been going to state contest with chamber orchestra since my freshman year.” When I asked about her experience competing in State in the past, she shared that “state is a super fun event. Although it can be stressful to prepare for, it is always amazing to have the opportunity to participate in a contest like this, especially since not every orchestra can make it in.” State is different this year, as Centaurus is hosting. Bella gave me her thoughts on this as well. She said, “The past times that I have gone, it has been on DU’s campus, so it being hosted in a high school will be quite different.” I was also curious about Bella’s opinions regarding chamber orchestra being accepted to State. She told me that she is, “not surprised that we got accepted into state because I feel that since my freshman year, we have improved a ton as an orchestra.” Finally, I asked Bella her opinions on how Mrs. Murphy was preparing the orchestra for State. She said, “Mrs. Murphy has definitely prepared us well…She has made sure that we continuously improve these [State] pieces and has made sure that we pay attention to smaller details which can make a big difference in our performance at State.”
Overall, hosting and competing in the 2026 Colorado state contest is a large accomplishment for the Centaurus orchestra program. However, these accomplishments are not infrequent thanks to the dedication of Mrs. Murphy, the students, and everybody involved in the program.
