Orchestra will hold its annual winter concert on Dec. 12 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium. The concert is the first orchestra concert this year without any other schools, unlike the cluster concert with feeder middle schools in October.
“We are feeling ready and excited for our winter concert,” assistant director Helen Chang said. “It will showcase the talent and hard work of our musicians and is sure to be an incredible performance.”
The concert’s repertoire includes, “In The Bleak Midwinter,” “Brazilian Sleigh Bells” and “Machine Man.” The chamber orchestra was also able to meet with “Machine Man’s” composer, Martin Ellerby. Senior Annika Sawant said they were able to receive insights to incorporate into the piece.
“[Ellerby] got to give us tips on how to play his work and tell us a little bit about himself,” senior Annika Sawant said. ”I think that we’ll be able to incorporate those insights into our own concert. The winter concert is a really great way to bring the orchestras together around the holiday season. It’s always super fun to watch other orchestras perform. [We] remember that we were in them at one point [and] just appreciate the work that everyone’s putting in around this time of year. [We] celebrate with each other.“
The concert has served as a transition from fall to spring semesters in orchestra; however, this year groups have begun their UIL repertoire earlier as UIL has been pushed from early March to February 26-28.
“We had significantly less time,” junior Prisha Shiwakoti said. “UIL [being earlier] is going to be stressful for us, but it’s also taking away from the time we usually have for the winter concert music, so everything’s getting shoved together really quickly.”
The winter concert features solos and small groups playing within pieces. The pieces will also include features from outside players such as physics teacher Dr. Kathleen Holley playing bass flute with the philharmonic orchestra, and cellist Tsun-Yuet Emannuel Kwok playing with chamber.
“I’ve really enjoyed playing with each graduating class [of] seniors every year,” Sawant said. “Some solos stand out to me, and I’m really excited for this year, because the seniors are my peers. It’s a special concert this year to be able to look at their work and be here now.”
“I’m excited about Chamber’s program,” Sawant said. “We have a couple pieces that are unique and from composers that are kind of unknown, so I’m excited for us to be able to play that and share that with the audience.”
Orchestra members are also preparing for additional events, such as the All Region Clinic and concert, which will be held Dec. 13-14 with a new record of 25 students attending.
“We’ve definitely had a stronger stride than the past four years, ” Sawant said. “When I was a freshman, we came out of [COVID-19,] and so our orchestra wasn’t as big as it is now. It didn’t have as high goals for the pieces that we wanted to play, and the difficulty wasn’t as high. Over the years, we’ve really come back from it, and have built our orchestra up to be really strong, and [be] able to play some super technically challenging material.”
