It’s an achievement to be selected for New York State School Music Association’s All-State chorus once, let alone twice — students practice for months on their solos for All-State auditions, and they have to receive a near-perfect score to make it through to the final chorus. The NYSSMA Conference only selects students who score a 99% or 100% on their solos. This year, the conference tapped Scanio to join the chorus for the second time — he first made the chorus as a junior in 2021.

While there are more local, less competitive choirs like All-County and Area All-State, getting selected for the All-State NYSSMA concert is the highest achievement for a chorus student. The original pool of applicants for the All-State concert often hovers around 5,000 across the state.

Scanio said last year’s chorus was smaller than usual because of NYSSMA’s COVID-19 safety policy. Student singers needed room to space out, and they sang in masks. But this year, Scanio said, the chorus was larger than ever — 224 student voices from across the state filled the Eastman Theatre this past weekend in Rochester, where the All-State chorus performed on Sunday, Dec. 4. Scanio said the sound that carried throughout the theater was powerful — he’s used to hearing the 35- to 40-person chorus at Lake Placid Middle High School.

“I mean, every single person scored the highest they could possibly do on the highest level NYSSMA vocal solo that they could,” he said, “and having all these crazy talented people in one space at one time singing at the same time — it was surreal, it was an incredible experience.”

He said this year’s song selections were more fun and upbeat than last year’s grand and serious pieces, which made for a more fun environment. They sang a traditional South African piece and a German song, among others. Even though the chorus rehearsed for a total of around 17 hours — starting on the Thursday night before the concert and ending on Saturday night — Scanio enjoyed the work.

“It sounds like a lot, but every single one of those minutes in that rehearsal was spent doing something fun and enjoyable,” he said.

But the weekend wasn’t completely stacked with rehearsals. Scanio said the chorus group visited the conference center in Rochester on Friday and Saturday afternoons, where music schools set up booths with information and vendors had musical items for sale. He said those afternoons were filled with some of his most memorable moments from the weekend.

“It gave us another opportunity to socialize, create new bonds and explore new interests for the future,” he said.

One vendor was selling kazoos for a dollar, and Scanio said most of the chorus bought one. At one of their rehearsals, the chorus pulled out the kazoos and surprised their chorus director with a kazoo ensemble.

Scanio described the dynamic between the students in the chorus as one of camaraderie and support. Despite being some of the most prestigious young singers in the state, Scanio said everyone was just happy to be there and sing together. Scanio said he found it easy to talk to people and make new friends — even the chorus director was “fantastic.”

On afternoons when the chorus traveled to the conference center, Scanio said, their bus would erupt with singing as the students practiced that weekend’s program together.

“It was so cool being such a massive group of so many kind, talented people,” Scanio said. “It was a one-of-a-kind experience.”

Scanio said that the deadline to apply for music colleges landed during the NYSSMA All-State concert weekend. A lot of his fellow chorus members were stressing about the deadline, but Scanio wasn’t worried. While he wants to keep music in his life as he moves on to college, he said he’s eyeing Nordic ski programs at colleges in New England.

A three-sport athlete in Nording skiing, cross-country running and track, Scanio in March earned the boys’ individual state championship title at the 2022 NYSPHSAA Nordic State Championships for his performance in the individual Freestyle race.