GMEA District 12 High School Honor Orchestra

The GMEA District 12 High School Honor Orchestra is an orchestra comprised of the top players in Cobb County, Georgia. Auditions are held each September and the event takes place over a two day period in November. Each year, the students get to rehearse and perform under the baton of a well-known guest conductor.

2026 Guest Conductor

Paul Hostetter, Columbus State University

Detailed Information...

Audition Registration

Deadline to register for the audition is: September 3 by 11:59pm.
Audition times for 9/17 will be sent out by September 8.

You or your students can register for the event here:

Audition Registration Form https://forms.gle/6SHsD98Q3BRvpaeQA

Audition Fee

There is a $10/student audition fee that will be collected by your school

Note: We will not accept individual checks from individual students. Each school/organization must collect payment from their students and will send 1 check to GMEA from their school/organization.

Audition Excerpts

Audition Excerpts can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/dbtjwrct (this is the UPDATED link with the version 2 corrected cello excerpts)

Up to 2 excerpts and up to 2 scales will be chosen for the audition.

The Chosen Excerpts and Scales will be posted here at 8pm on Wednesday, September 16 (the evening before the audition)

Audition Date/Location

Auditions will take place on September 17 from 4:30pm – 8:30pm.

There will be signs posted around the campus directing parents/students to the correct location.

All events (audition, rehearsals, and concert) will be held at:

Kennesaw Mountain High School, 1898 Due West Rd, Kennesaw, GA 30152. Google Maps Link

Honor Orchestra Event

Thursday, November 5, Sectionals and rehearsal from 4:30-8:00pm
Friday, November 6, 8:30am-4:00pm
Friday, November 6, 6:00pm – Concert

Note: There is a $35/student acceptance fee that may be collected by your school

Event Location: Kennesaw Mountain High School, 1898 Due West Rd, Kennesaw, GA 30152. Google Maps Link

Georgia State University Partnership

We are excited to partner with Georgia State University’s School of Music this year who will be

providing their wonderful faculty for our sectionals on Thursday!

Conductor

We are excited to announce that our conductor for this year’s District 12 Honor Orchestra will be

Paul Hostetter, Director of Orchestral Studies at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University.

Maestro Hostetter is an incredible musician and engaging educator. If your students don’t know him, please

feel free to share his bio: https://www.paulhostetter.com

Sponsor: William Harris Lee & Co.

William Harris Lee & Co will be the 2026 District 12 Honor Orchestra sponsor who will be at the event for

repairs and have instruments available for trial for our students. They are also kindly printing programs and

providing our students with music folders.

Questions? Contact us! Koji Mori, coordinator, Harrison Cook, site host