The Concert and Symphonic Orchestras hosted the annual Autumn Serenade joined by the Suzanne Middle School Challenger Orchestra on Thursday, Nov. 7 in the Performing Arts Center (PAC).
The concert had 11 songs, five from Concert and Challenger Orchestra and six from the Symphonic Orchestra.
Instrumental Music Council president junior Ava Waggoner started off the night by introducing the Concert and Challenger Orchestra to play the song “Voyager,” conducted by the Walnut student-teacher Justine Williams.
“I was kind of nervous. But I also have a lot of experience with public speaking, so I’m pretty used to it by now,” Waggoner said. “I think you know some things are bound to go wrong during concerts but I think it went pretty well overall, considering that we had a lot of pieces to play and they were pretty hard.”
The Concert and Challenger Orchestra’s third song was “La Bruja”, which featured band director Katie Takahashi as the director, choir teacher Andrew Perez on vocals, junior Gabriel Gonzalez on guitar and Walnut Folklorico Club dancing.
“I think it’s essential that there’s collaboration amongst the band department and choir department,” Perez said. “I feel that music is really a quintessential experience about making sure that all musicians are well rounded and able to see all kinds of styles and varieties of music in various scenarios.”
After a quick change, Symphonic Orchestra began with their first piece “Capriccio Espagnol,” featuring Concertmaster violinist senior Surya Donath, clarinetist junior Keegan Beecher and flutist junior Andrew Chen. Donath led the Symphonic Orchestra and soloed in this piece, along with “Violin Concerto No.1” and “Danzon No.2.”
“I thought it was really fun. I think we had really good energy and I think overall, it sounded really nice,” Donath said. “I was nervous that I would mess up and also that I would be so nervous that I wouldn’t enjoy it. But then once we started playing, I think I just got into playing music and I was able to enjoy myself.”
Violinist junior Lucas Villareal followed this song with his solo in “Violin Concerto No.4 in D major.” Afterwards, cellist junior Sophie Lu was featured on “Hungarian Rhapsody No.68” as a soloist. The night finished with “Danzon No.2,” featuring solos from clarinetist senior Evelyn Kung, pianist junior Jingming Wang, piccoloist senior Jaden Diep, Donath and trumpeter junior Renzo Memije. The Autumn Serenade this year marked the first year that Takahashi has conducted the Symphonic Orchestra and wants to push their potential.
“It’s a great opportunity to get to conduct the top ensemble on our campus and they perform really well. It makes my job easier and harder, because I want to push them to get even better,” Takahashi said.
