Odessa High students get invited to prestigious program in New York

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) -Three Odessa High School students got invited to be a part of the High School Honors Performance series in New York.

With the chance to perform in the historic Carnegie Hall.

Brothers Ezaiah and Zavian Cisneros, and long time friend Gabriel Haley, are percussionists.

They were chosen out of thousands of auditions from musicians all over the us to go to high school honors performance series program, an opportunity they say could be once in a lifetime.

Two of the musicians from the trio of OHS students are seniors and say they’re unsure whether they’ll pursue music after high school, but the opportunity to perform in New York city was too good to pass up.

Haley, who is one of the seniors, says they couldn’t have done it without the help from one of their teachers.

“We have amazing staff here. We have Olague who’s a lot of the reason I’m doing percussion today. It’s definitely nice that we have three percussionists from West Texas to represent.” said Haley.

Jimmy Olague is the assistant band director at OHS and says Midland-Odessa isn’t known for percussion music like band or orchestra, but says he hopes this changes after these students make the trip to new york.

“As more students are participating in it, more people get to see what it involves and what it is. It’s starting to get more popularity and more opportunities for these students,” said Olague.

The program runs from February 1-5. During their first three days, students will rehearse and tour the city. Then on the fourth day, the musicians will perform at historic Carnegie Hall.

Zavian Cisneros is a sophomore at OHS, and actually was invited to perform at this program back when he was in seventh grade, but because of the covid-19 pandemic, he wasn’t able to attend.

He says his parents were excited that he got invited again, this time with his brother alongside him.

“They were really excited. They were really proud of us, because I mean what are the chances that you and your brother are going to be going to New York at the same time to play music,” said Zavian.

His brother, Ezaiah Cisneros, says this is especially important to his family because he comes from a long line of relatives that attended ohs.

“It’s really a huge honor because me and my family, we’re all from Odessa high school. My dad, my brother, my grandmother, they all went to OHS. Even my mom and my mom’s family.” said Ezaiah.

All three of them are percussionists, but the Cisneros brothers will be performing with the band, and haley will be performing in the symphony.

The students will be leaving late January to New York. If you wanna know how you can help these students, you can send your donations to P.O. Box 1842, Odessa, Texas, 79760.

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