Spring Concert Played With Heart And Soul

Tuesday, March 24, was a day that the Highland High band and orchestras waited for with bated breath. At 7 pm that night, these musical ensembles gathered to perform in their last concert before Festival, which will be held on April 21. This year’s Spring Concert was conducted by band and orchestra teacher Emily Jorgensen and co-conducted by U of U student teacher Devon Bennion.

Concert Band played three pieces, one of which, The Valley of Darkness, was written by local composer Barry E. Kopetz, who is in charge of the Salt Lake Symphonic Winds, an ensemble that practices at Highland. Marche Des Parachutistes Belges, by Pierre Leemans, and Amazing Grace, by Frank Ticheli, were also played, the latter of which was a musical narrative of the composer’s search for faith and his revelations that came afterwards. The band maintained this spirituality wonderfully throughout their performance.

Chamber Orchestra, with senior Audrey Lund, the Sterling Scholar for music, as first chair, played three pieces themselves; Concerto Grosso in G Major op. 6 no. 1, by George Frideric Handel, Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral, by Richard Wagner, and Serenade for Strings, by Antonin Dvorák. Although less local, these pieces showcased Chamber Orchestra’s ability to learn a piece of music and own it. These students masterfully directed themselves without any conductor on Serenade for Strings, proving that no matter the age of musicians, they can focus their talents together to produce a work of art. The soloists in Concerto Grosso in G Major were Audrey Lund, Margaret Watkins, and Bryton Howell, and in Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral, they were once again Audrey Lund and Margaret Watkins, along with Daniel Jesse and Sophia Chartrand.

String Orchestra was last out of three ensembles on Tuesday, playing Sea Songs, by Vaughan Williams, and the theme from Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust film, Schindler’s List. For this deeply serious piece, the cello soloist was Mackenzie Quarry, and the tragic sounding violin solo was played by Parker Justham, echoing the plights and the sorrows of those which were portrayed in the movie, Schindler’s List.

Tuesday’s Spring Concert was a fine spectacle in which Highland’s young musicians displayed the beauty and delicacy that can be derived from toiling over a music sheet.