F-M senior selected for prestigious music conference

F-M senior Maya Perera smiles at the camera
Fayetteville-Manlius High School senior Maya Perera has been chosen to perform with the concert choir at the annual National Association for Music Education conference.

A Fayetteville-Manlius High School vocalist will soon be taking her music skills on the road.

Senior Maya Perera is one of 540 high school students nationwide who has been chosen to participate in this year’s All-National Honor Ensembles as part of the National Association for Music Education’s (NAfME) annual conference, which is set to take place Nov. 3-6 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.

To be considered for All-National, students must qualify for their state-level honor ensemble program and submit an audition video. Of those most elite high school musicians, only the top-performing students are chosen for the national program.

Maya, who is a member of the F-M Chorale and Symphony Orchestra, will perform with the national concert choir under the direction of award-winning conductor, Frances Fonza. The mixed choir features 239 nationally-selected vocalists. 

During the conference, Maya will attend workshops with renowned clinicians and rehearsals with Fonza. The concerts will be held Nov. 5 and 6.

The NAfME conference is the premier national event fostering and facilitating collaboration between music education practitioners, researchers, and program leaders across the spectrum of PreK-12 and higher education, according to the NafME website.