The Steinbrenner Orchestra played in the school’s auditorium on Wednesday evening. The room was packed with parents, siblings, and friends to support the musicians as they performed their annual fall concert.
The night began with the Concert Orchestra, the beginner group composed of freshmen new to the program, followed by the Symphonic Orchestra made up of sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The Chamber Orchestra is the program’s audition group. Each group played their own classical songs, all picked by orchestra director Grace Jeon.
She selects music based on a number of things, including the specific theme she’s trying to convey for a concert and the group of musicians available to her.
“I try to give them a variety of music so that they have the experience of different genres,” said Jeon. “But I always try to focus on classical in the fall concert before we do different styles.”
The majority of the concert was classical, featuring titles like “Dance Mysterioso” by David Shaffer and the Prelude, Sarabande, and Gavotte of Edvard Grieg’s “Holberg’s Time, Op. 40”.
“My favorite part about performing is getting to show all of our hard work as a group,” said junior Gina Passarella, a violinist in the Symphonic Orchestra. “When we’re all together and we all sound good, it’s really great to hear.”
The concert ended with a deep message from the program. The lyrics of Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” was inserted into every program for every member of the audience. The student president Bradley Ryan and vice-president, Gabriel Arzuaga, read them out, explaining that the song was picked to emphasize the importance of looking within oneself in order to make a difference. The Philharmonic Orchestra, a combination of all the groups in the program, proceeded to perform the song, with students lining the aisles and surrounding the audience as they played.
“I call musicians, magicians,” said Jeon. “We can make things different- music can bring everyone together. I wanted to deliver that to the audience and teach the students that they can change the world.”
Jordyn Dees // Co-Opinion Editor and Business Manager
