Special to the Record
playing the oboe during her
band rehearsal at the Morris
H. Seigal Clark Avenue Middle
School.
Last week at Galvin Middle School in Wakefield, Mass., Allison Figueroa Ramirez represented the Morris H. Seigal Clark Avenue Middle School and all of Chelsea Public Schools by playing the oboe in the Symphony Orchestra at the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) Northeastern District Junior Festival. Allison auditioned for a role in the festival earlier in the school year, earning a top spot in the orchestra after a competitive selection process.
The Northeastern District Junior Festival annually invites middle school students and 9th grade high school students from across Northeast Massachusetts to audition. The festival includes five performing groups: Chorus, Jazz Band, Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra and String Orchestra. Allison, an eighth grade student and Class President at CAMS, is an accomplished musician who initially auditioned for a role in the festival’s Concert Band. Not only was she good enough to earn a spot in Concert Band, but she was among the top oboists to audition, and earned a highly competitive spot in the Symphony Orchestra.
Allison commented, “At first I was a little surprised. ‘Wow, did I actually do that good?’”
There wasn’t any surprise for Allison’s teachers Richard Romanoff, K-8 Lead Music Educator at Chelsea Public Schools, and Lee Thomas, CPS’ Middle School Band Teacher who teaches students at all three middle schools in Chelsea. Both Romanoff and Thomas echoed similar sentiments about Allison regarding her musical talent, hardworking nature and ability to pick up on things quickly, including the oboe itself as well as the audition materials for the festival.
Romanoff was her music teacher when she was in elementary school at the Berkowitz
School and continued to work with her through middle school in his role as Lead Educator. He shared that Allison didn’t get started on practicing the music for her audition until December when the pieces were posted online in September.
“So we were a little bit late, but she really practiced hard and like every week during her lesson, I would notice remarkable improvement,” Romanoff said. He added details about how she picked up “advanced musicianship” techniques such as adding vibrato to her tone right away. Her ability to take instruction and practice at home helped her learn the piece, improve and contributed to her selection to the Symphony Orchestra.
Speaking on her skill and success, Thomas added, “I think a lot of things are working in her favor, definitely her high level of musical aptitude, high level of intelligence, very intrinsically motivated and a hard worker. She wants to excel no matter what kind of situation she’s in. She wants to do her best.”
Allison is a talented musician who not only plays the oboe, but also the piccolo, flute, saxophone, clarinet, trombone and piano too. But the oboe, as she describes, is her favorite for a variety of reasons including how unique it is to play and how challenging it is to learn. Mr. Thomas first introduced the possibility of playing the oboe at the end of her sixth grade year, and she started playing the woodwind instrument at the start of seventh grade (the 2024-25 school year). She credits her introduction to music to opportunities available to her as a student at CPS, beginning in fourth grade with Mr. Romanoff and evolving from there.
“And then over the last four years, my passion for music has grown a lot. I started playing my first [band] instrument when I came here [Clark Avenue] to middle school, my first year, which was flute. Over the years I progressed, then I started playing with the jazz band, which has always been piano. Mr. Thomas introduced me to oboe. I learned saxophone during the summer before this year. My sister started playing clarinet, which is the reason why I know how to play clarinet. My cousin started playing trombone, which is also a reason why I know how to play trombone. Piccolo, I started playing around sixth grade.”
Her passion for music, lessons learned in elementary and middle school and dedicated practice outside of school led her to performing in the festival last Saturday (March 14). Her seat, in the center of the orchestra in the fourth row, looked right up at the director as Allison played the oboe, proudly representing the Clark Avenue and all of CPS among the Northeast Region’s best musicians from communities as far away as Tyngsborough, Lexington, Belmont, and Ipswich.
“It means a lot to me. I love my community. It also makes me feel proud to be representing a community that I love a lot.”
The sky is the limit for what is next for Allison who will continue to prepare for the upcoming Chelsea All-District Concert as well as the CAMS Spring Concert all while continuing to excel academically, participate in other extracurriculars like volleyball and help lead the school as class president.