Jaxon Picarello

Jaxon Picarello is a 14-year-old freshman at Collinsville High School (CHS) and is very excited to start his first year with the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. He is a member of the Collinsville Marching Kahoks and is 2nd chair in the CHS Wind Ensemble. He started by playing saxophone in fifth grade, but by the end of seventh grade, he had switched to the French horn. During that time, he also played the mellophone in Pep Band and the trumpet in Jazz Band.  

Picarello has had the privilege of attending the Illinois Music Education Association district 6 festival as 1st chair (2026), All-State Band as 5th chair (2026), the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Bi-State Festival in the Cougar Honor Band as 4th chair (2025), the Madison County Band Festival (2026), and received a perfect score of 25/25 at the Illinois Solo and Ensemble Festival. 

To get to this point, Picarello had mentors and teachers whom he cannot show enough appreciation for. He would like to thank Mr. Michael Alexander for letting him switch to French horn, Ms. Jordan Harrington for always encouraging him, Mr. Ryan Goetter for being there to help no matter what, Mr. Kyle Muskopf, and finally Mr. Nathan Stricker for being the best mentor he could ask for.