Skip to main content

Time:

Thursday
December, 21, 2023
08:30 AM - 09:15 AM

Location:

W190

Category

Middle School String Orchestra

Conductor

Conductor Thumb
Klayton Hoefler

Program

Download

Performer Details

Performer Bio Synopsis

WoodCreek Junior High serves a diverse, engaged community of parents and students in Katy, Texas in the Greater Houston Area. Since the opening of the school in 2008, WoodCreek Orchestra has maintained a tradition of excellence in performance and instruction. This is their second appearance at The Midwest Clinic having previously been an invited ensemble in 2013. Klayton Hoefler joined WoodCreek Orchestra in 2018 as the head director. In addition to program-wide consistent Texas UIL sweepstakes, recent recognitions include Foundation for Music Education Mark of Excellence Commended Winner, 2022 and American Classics Best in Class Varsity, 2019. WoodCreek Orchestra serves 200 students 6th through 8th grade and consists of four performing ensembles in addition to beginner classes. Chamber, Sinfonia, Philharmonic, and Lyrica ensembles perform multiple concerts per year including festival and contest performances. Erin DeLavan joined WoodCreek Orchestra in 2022 and added a new auditioned ensemble, First Year Honor Orchestra, which was recognized with superior ratings this year’s Anne C. Roberts Orchestra Festival. Students from WoodCreek routinely earn membership in the competitive TMEA Region 23 Honor Orchestra and many go on to be All-State Orchestra members. Students who progress through WoodCreek Orchestra leave with the physical skills, technical language, and listening experience necessary to learn and perform music independently, to evaluate their own performances and that of others, and to become contributing members of a performing group. Although WCJH Orchestra students are ambitious and competitive, the culture of the program is one of camaraderie, group effort, and individual responsibility.

WoodCreek Junior High School

Conductor's Bio

Klayton Hoefler is the head orchestra director at WoodCreek Junior High in Katy ISD. In his five years at WoodCreek he has twice been nominated as a teacher of the year finalist. Prior to the invitation to perform at the 77th Annual Midwest Clinic, he led the orchestra program to consistent Texas UIL sweepstakes as well as recognition by the Foundation for Music Education Mark of Excellence in 2022 and 2023. He currently serves as the Middle School Coordinator for Texas Music Educators Association Region 23 Orchestra. Before WoodCreek, he was previously the orchestra director at Blackmon Road Middle School and Shaw High School in the Muscogee County School District of Columbus, Georgia. While in Columbus, Klayton was a board member for the Youth Orchestra of Greater Columbus and held the position of adjunct professor of String Methods at Columbus State University. He also performed as substitute cellist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and LaGrange Symphony Orchestra. Klayton began playing cello at the age of nine and was a member of the Sioux City Youth Symphony for eight years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Bob Jones University and a master’s degree in Cello Performance from Columbus State University studying with Wendy Warner. In the summer months, Klayton serves on faculty at Csehy Summer School of Music. He enjoys arranging and composing and has choral works published by Choristers Guild and Beckenhorst Press. When not teaching, Klayton enjoys hiking, camping, and travel.

Additional Directors

Additional Conductor Image

Erin DeLavan

Back