The start of October means the first concert of the year for the orchestra.

On October 7, the high school and middle school orchestras had a combined concert at the high school. The concert started at 7 p.m.

The two orchestras spent the first month of school preparing selections of music to perform. With only having a month to prepare for the concert, this concert was a preview concert so the parents and other community members can see what is to come from the orchestra at future performances. 

The evening started with the seventh and eighth grade orchestra performing two pieces of music. The first selection was “Ancient Hunters” by Sean O’Loughlin. The next piece was “Dragonhunter” by Richard Meyer. Many of the high school members remember playing this selection during their middle school years.

The seventh graders got to take a break and hear the eighth graders play their own selections. They played “Midnight Rain” by Susan H. Day and “Curse of the Rosin Eating Zombies From Outer Space” also by Meyer.

Many of the high school members remember playing “Dragonhunter” and “Curse of the Rosin Eating Zombies From Outer Space” during their middle school years.

The high school and middle school groups were able to relax and listen to a guest string quartet, The Heimat String Quartet. The members of the group were Aubrey Holmes (violin), Patrick Shaughnessy (violin), Chung Han Hsiao (violia) and Aaron Fried (cello). The quartet played two selections.

After the quartet, the high school orchestra was featured. Their first selection was “The Avengers” by Alan Silvestri and arranged by Larry Moore. They also played the “Theme from Fantasy on Sleepers Wake” by J.S. Bach. After playing a slow piece the orchestra picked up the beat and played “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” This selection was performed by the Dropkick Murphys but composed by Loughlin.

The orchestra took a pause from playing for the seniors to receive their letters.  The senior orchestra members are Chloe Miller (violin), Jack Dotson (violin), Amber Villanueva (violin), Meghan Bohannon (violin), Fred Cunningham (violin), Hannah Fifer (violin), Cheyenne Fox (viola), Zachary Kunz (cello), Alex Petrovski (cello) and Faith Horn (cello).

The last selection for the high school orchestra was “New World Symphony (Mvt IV)” by Antonin Dvorak.

For anyone who missed the concert, the Lakeview, Kimpton and high school orchestras will be having an all-city orchestra concert on Thursday December 10 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium. At this concert, the juniors in the high school orchestra will be receiving their letters.