Spring orchestra concert prepares students for March festival

Audrey Sun, Staff Writer

Every year, Orchestra holds three concerts within the fall, winter and spring. On Monday, Feb. 29, the spring concert took place at 7 p.m. in the CAC. This year’s spring concert featured songs from multiple eras including classical, romantic, and modern. The songs performed also included those that they planned to perform at the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) Festival in March.

Recently, Orchestra welcomed a new teacher, Mrs. Allen. Her teaching style is very unique and has impacted both the Chamber and String Orchestra.

“Mrs. Allen has definitely been more willing to experiment, ” senior Jessica Baze said. “Since her arrival, we’ve combined performances with choir and band. I really enjoy how these performances have made the musical programs more collaborative.”

The spring concert also helped prepare Orchestra students for their festival this month. In addition to daily class rehearsals, the concert served as superior practice for the festival.

“The concert prepared us for festival because we got to play the same songs in front of an audience,” senior Emily Kimura said. “There were multiple people who have solos for our festival pieces who have never soloed with the group before. We also were able to get a feel for playing these songs on stage.”

This year’s show also featured a couple of guest performers who will also judge their performance. One of them being a national conductor named Noemi Wheeler.

“The guest performer really showed us how far our passion for music can take us if we put in the effort and hard work,” senior Lauren Weissenberger said.

Overall the concert went well, granting Orchestra the chance to receive feedback on their performance and also indulge on a little bit of fundraising.

“I know that we benefit from having an enthusiastic audience,” Weissenberger said. “Every ticket sold helped with some of the costs for our festival trip to Disneyland in the Spring.”