The Orchestra’s Fall Concert Spooked, Thrilled Audiences
November 6, 2015
The auditorium was filled with Halloween decorations on October 29 at 7:00 p.m.
The Halloween concert features both the middle school and the high school orchestra. The high schoolers here are sitting, waiting for the middle school to begin their pieces.
The concert began with the middle school orchestra performing their pieces. The concertmaster shown here is helping the orchestra tune their instruments so that they can be in tune for their pieces.
Zachary Levi is the director and conductor of both the middle school and high school orchestra. His first costume of the night was Sebastian from The Little Mermaid.
After the middle school performed their pieces, it was time for the middle school select string ensemble to perform.
The high school Prestige Strings was in line to play next. Their piece was the Irish Party in Third Class from Titanic.
The Halloween concert is one where students are allowed to wear a costume of their choice, rather than the formal black that is expected for other concerts. Each section of the high school orchestra went out to display their costumes to the crowd. The viola section is featured in this photo.
Zachary Levi’s second costume of the night was Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Halloween concert also allows members of the audience to compete in a costume contest, where judges decide whose costume is the most scary, the cutest, and the more original.
The high school concertmaster Kristen Zak begins standing to start the tuning process.
Some of the members of the high school orchestra perform.
![Orchestra director Zachary Levi believes the concert went very well and that the orchestra played to the best of their ability. "The orchestra was able to create the sound of movie music...epic sounds like Pirates of the Caribbean [one of the pieces we played] calls for. I felt like stylistically [the orchestra] played well with Handel [Water Music]...that was stylistically written and performed in Baroque style. Scheherazade had very good transitions," Levi said. "But I also felt like the students did a good job with helping with the flow of the concert. People were where they needed to be [and] were very helpful with keeping things organized."](https://shscourier.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SANY1361.jpg)
Orchestra director Zachary Levi believes the concert went very well and that the orchestra played to the best of their ability.
“The orchestra was able to create the sound of movie music…epic sounds like Pirates of the Caribbean [one of the pieces we played] calls for. I felt like stylistically [the orchestra] played well with Handel [Water Music]…that was stylistically written and performed in Baroque style. Scheherazade had very good transitions,” Levi said. “But I also felt like the students did a good job with helping with the flow of the concert. People were where they needed to be [and] were very helpful with keeping things organized.”
At the end of the concert, the middle school and high school orchestra came together to perform Russian Sailors Dance by Reinhold Gliere. Junior Rachel Sergent believes it was the best piece of the night.
“It sounded like one level of an orchestra..the middle schoolers and high schoolers blended well. If you weren’t told there were middle schoolers in that song, you could’ve assumed it was just the high school playing,” Sergent said. “It got an encore because it was played really well and it wasn’t the easiest piece to play, so for it to be done so well…people appreciated it more.”
Once the concert was over, refreshments were available for anyone who wished to eat them.
![Junior Taylor Kopp, who dressed up as a princess, noted how the theme of the concert was very prevalent in the pieces performed by both the middle school and high school orchestra. “The theme [of the concert] was about sea and water. It was portrayed in the titles of the songs and the style of the pieces. Pirates of the Caribbean, Handel Water Music, and Russians Sailors Dance all were centered around that theme and the songs were played in a way that represented the sea," Kopp said. "The middle school played songs from “The Little Mermaid,” which also reflected the theme.”](https://shscourier.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/IMG_4397.jpg)
Junior Taylor Kopp, who dressed up as a princess, noted how the theme of the concert was very prevalent in the pieces performed by both the middle school and high school orchestra.
“The theme [of the concert] was about sea and water. It was portrayed in the titles of the songs and the style of the pieces. Pirates of the Caribbean, Handel Water Music, and Russians Sailors Dance all were centered around that theme, and the songs were played in a way that represented the sea,” Kopp said. “The middle school played songs from “The Little Mermaid,” which also reflected the theme.”