The students in Chamber Orchestra and Concert and Philharmonic Strings unpacked their instruments in the south band room for a dress rehearsal on stage in the Arganbright Auditorium at 4 p.m. after school Dec. 12. More than 100 orchestra students were present in this program, the biggest this annual event has ever been. After a long rehearsal, Orchestra director Jon Welch wrapped it up around 5:30 p.m., and dinner was provided, consisting of pizza, a variety of cookies and juice boxes. After dinner, students changed into their concert attire and got ready for the performance at 7 p.m.
The concert started off with Concert Strings playing “Sweet New Moon” by Yukiko Nishimura and “She Will Hang the Night With Stars” by William Hoffeldt, followed by Philharmonic Strings playing “Allegro from Concerto in D Major” by Anderssen, “Snowberry” by Yukiko Nisimura and “You are Starlight” by Ethan Anderson.
Then, the Chamber Orchestra took the stage with “Concerto Grosso Op. 6, no. 8” by Arcangelo Corelli featuring soloists Sabrina Du ’25, Anna Song ’25, Ellie Roetlin ’26 and Kobi Nott ’26. Finally, for the last two pieces, members of Concert and Philharmonic Strings filled in the rest of the seats on stage to perform “Palladio (Mvt. 1-Allegretto)” by Karl Jenskins and “Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana” by Mascagni with the Chamber Orchestra.
A member of Concert Strings, cellist Raphael Policeni ’28 shares his thoughts on the performance.
“I thought that the piano was really good,” Policeni said. “The Chamber Orchestra did a really nice job and I really liked their piece.”
With this being her first time playing together with an advanced group, violinist Chimamanda Anyaoha ’28 notes her favorite moments.
“‘Palladio’ is my favorite piece because it’s fast paced and [it] challenges you to do hard things on your instrument,” Anyaoha said. “I thought [Chamber Orchestra] was really good. It felt like they were a professional orchestra.”
