By Michael Boo

Emily Hinz is a senior oboe and English Horn player from Spring High School, just outside Houston. She was also selected as second chair, first soprano in the Texas All-State Choir, but is best known to BOA followers as the vocalist for the BOA Honor Band performance in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena this past New Year’s Day. She shared the following thoughts about her BOA experiences.

On how she came to perform with the Honor Orchestra of America:

On Friday morning of the BOA National Concert Band Festival, my band director told me of the need for an additional oboist in the Honor Orchestra. There were a couple of English Horn parts, so I was asked to fill in the second Oboe part so one of the others could play the English Horn. My band was at the Festival to perform a concert on Saturday morning.

On being selected for the Honor Band in the Rose Parade:

As the vocalist selected for the BOA Honor Band, I sang Gloria Estafan’s “Get on Your Feet” and “Reflections of Earth” from the Disney Millennium Celebration with the Honor Band during the Rose Parade. The band was huge, with 330 members. I “rode” a custom design elevated cart that also carried the keyboardist and sound system.

Going down Colorado Boulevard was an amazing experience. I’ll never forget turning the corner where all the news cameras were and that’s where the largest amount of stands were. We were awestruck by the amount of people there. It’s indescribable… the multitudes. That was my favorite part of the trip.

On performing at the National Concert Band Festival with her high school band:

The BOA Concert Festival is something else I’ll never forget. It’s a really great feeling coming off the stage, the culmination of what we worked for, feeling the emotion of the performance. We knew we would be playing for people who would be impressed by the little details, so we had a standard to live up to. And being from Houston, we were excited to see even the small amounts of snow that fell that week.

Being in the choir helps me hear and be sensitive to pitch placement and chords. I find instrumental sight- reading to be easier with a choral background. When I’m playing phrasing on the oboe, I think how I would phrase it when singing because it’s easier to hear the phrasing vocally.

I would like to be remembered as someone that really helped other people. I would love that to be through my music…to make them cry, laugh, get up and dance. I would say to other young performers to cherish the opportunities you’re given, not to take for granted the talents that you have and to strive to achieve musical excellence through emotion.

Emily’s Faves

Music: I like a broad span of music, from classical to alternative rock to Christian to R&B, Country. My favorite composer is Tschaikovsky; especially his “Romeo and Juliet.” My favorite group is Switchfoot, a Christian rock band.

Book: Dante’s “Inferno.” I like the imagery Dante created with his allegory of God’s love and justice.

TV Show: “Alias.” I like the plot twists and action. How they depict terrorism reminds us of things that can be going on that we never see.