The upper and middle school orchestras performed in the annual Spring Concert at the Mexican Heritage Theater on April 10.

In the first half of the concert, the sixth grade orchestra performed, followed by middle school chamber ensembles, including two bass duets with middle school bassists and upper school principal bass Andrew Kim (11). The seventh and eighth grade orchestra performed afterward. The entire middle school orchestra, conducted by David Hart, then performed Georges Bizet’s “Prelude to Carmen.”

After an intermission, the upper school orchestra performed six pieces, each with an introduction by an orchestra member.

After beginning with Camille Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre,” the orchestra performed “The Firebird” by Igor Stravinsky.

“[The Firebird is] the most difficult work we’ve ever played,” music director and conductor Christopher Florio said. “It’s a very powerful, energetic piece that has some really tender moments to it.”

After “The Firebird,” the orchestra performed “La Paix,” by Leo Delibes, with principal viola Austin Lai (12) as a soloist, and the first movement of a violin concerto by Samuel Barber, with concertmaster Helen Wu (12) as a soloist. The orchestra then performed Alexander Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances.”

Florio then recognized each senior orchestra member individually in a speech that preceded the last piece of the evening, Jose Pablo Moncayo’s “Huapango.”

The Upper School orchestra had also performed “Huapango” at a school meeting in the gym during the week of the concert. Florio commented on some of the challenges this venue posed.

“The way we are set up [in the gym], which is the only way we can set up, doesn’t allow the people in the back—the brass—to be able to hear the strings,” Florio said. “It’s really hard to line everything up, and it seems amazing they actually pulled it off as well as they did.”

The orchestra used instruments ranging from the harp to the xylophone during the concert. Percussionist and pianist Andrew Semenza (9) commented on the transportation of instruments to the theater.

“The morning of the concert […] we spend the class period moving mostly percussion instruments, and the piano as well, to the truck that holds all the big instruments,” Andrew said. “We have to package up the piano and package up the harp, and we have to get the timpanis loaded.”

“Huapango” and Camille Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre” were among pieces that the orchestra also performed in Portland, Oregon for the Northwest Orchestra Festival on March 7-8, where they won first place.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Praveen Batra

From left, cellists Matthew Huang (12), Julia Wang (12), Kevin Kim (11) and Victor Weber (9) play during the Upper School orchestra's performance of "The Firebird." Matthew introduced "The Firebird" before its performance.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on April 22, 2015.