Eleven musicians from Midway High School’s Band, Choir, and Orchestra programs have received the highest honor for music students in Texas. Congratulations to the 2026 Midway TMEA All-Staters! Among these eleven honorees, four are returning and seven will be getting their first experience of performing for their families and thousands of Texas music directors and teachers on the elite stages of the Texas Music Educators Convention in San Antonio in February.
All-State Band
MHS senior Emmanuel Maxey is returning to the annual TMEA Convention for a third straight year in a row. Not only is this a truly remarkable achievement unto itself, but what Emmanuel has done is something extremely rare. He has auditioned on a different instrument for each year he has been selected! He played contrabassoon in 2024, bass clarinet in 2025, and will be performing as 1st Chair piccolo with the Philharmonic Orchestra for 2026, showing-off his exemplary musicianship and mastery of woodwind instruments.
The Midway High School Band is under the direction of Pam Hyatt.
All-State Choir
On Saturday, January 10, eleven MHS choir students auditioned in the Area Round of the TMEA All-State process at Midway High School. Midway Choir had an outstanding nine singers selected for the Texas All-State Choir.
Congratulations to these outstanding singers:
· Ashlyn LaStrape – Junior, 4th Chair Soprano 1 All State Treble Choir
· Millie Cherry – Senior, 2nd Chair Soprano 2 All State Mixed Choir
· Elizabeth Trauth – Junior, 5th Chair Soprano 2 All-State Treble Choir
· Cady Eggleston - Senior, 1st Chair Alto 1 All State Mixed Choir
· Bailey Fornwalt – Sophomore, 5th Chair Alto 2 All State Treble Choir
· LeAngel Rodriguez – Senior, 4th Chair Tenor 2 All-State Tenor-Bass Choir
· Jack Davis – Sophomore, 3rdChair Bass 1 All-State Tenor-Bass Choir
· Mark Hall – Senior, 1st Chair Bass 2All State Mixed Choir
· AnthonyZavala – Junior, 4th Chair Bass 2 All State Tenor-Bass Choir
This year marks the 3rd time Millie Cherry has been selected for this honor. In addition, this is the second year that Cady Eggleston has been selected.
These students are all under the direction of MHS choral directors Caleb Overstreet, Kayla Torp, and Drew Jackson. Cherry, Eggleston, Rodriguez, and Davis are voice students of Dr. David Guess. Hall studies with Mrs. Julianne Best. LaStrape, Trauth, and Zavala are voice students of Mrs.Tina Hays.
All-State Orchestra
Midway junior violinist Glenn Eshelman has been selected for the TMEA All-State Symphony Orchestra. This marks Glenn’s third consecutive year as an All-State musician.
The Midway High School Orchestra is under the direction of Terence Guerrero.
High school students selected to perform in the All-State concerts have competed through three auditions to qualify at the state level.All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive as only 1,875 students are selected through a process that began with over 70,000 students from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of 18 ensembles.
Texas Music Educators Association sponsors the Texas All-State competition. This competitive process begins throughout the state in auditions hosted by 33 TMEA Regions. Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From this ranking, a select group of musicians advances from their Region to compete against musicians from other areas in eight TMEA Area competitions. The highest-ranking musicians judged at the TMEA Area competitions qualify to perform in a TMEA All-State music group. Only the top 2.6% of musicians who initially audition become All-State musicians.
These All-State students participate in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors during the TMEAClinic/Convention. Their performances for thousands of attendees bring this extraordinary event to a close on February 14. For the All-State concert schedule and conductor information, visit the Performances section of www.tmea.org/convention.
