The orchestra department recently held their winter concert on Dec 10 in the auditorium. The concert, as usual, was free for anybody to come watch and enjoy with their friends and family. This was their final concert of 2019.

The concert had a winter and holiday theme. The orchestra decorated the stage with festive decorations, like snowflakes and lights, which matched with the holiday songs played and helped to put the crowd in a holiday spirit.

During the concert, the various orchestra groups, which are based on the students’ skill levels, played many holiday pieces along with other more classical pieces.

The show started off with the beginners group’s performance and worked its way up to the Philharmonic group, which is the most advanced group. Each group played a couple of their main pieces and ended with a christmas carol. “My least favorite part about the concert were the carols,” cellist Lauryn Mills said. “We played such beautiful and difficult pieces but then ended on easy cheesy songs like We Wish You A Merry Christmas.”

Each concert that the orchestra puts on usually takes a lot of teamwork and effort to pull them off. Since the number of adults who can help each student tune and prepare for the show are limited, the students have to help each other. “My favorite part about the concert was how all the orchestras were able to play and how everyone cooperated very well,” violaist Geanlucca Alvarez said.

In addition to having to worry about tuned instruments and where to be before performing, the students have to deal with their nerves. While many of the beginners get very nervous before going on stage, some of the students have gotten used to performing. “Usually I get nervous in concerts and I overthink and get lost,” Mills said. “But this time I was so into the music that I didn’t get lost.”

With determination and major teamwork, along with overcoming nerves, the orchestra was able to end the 2019 year with a successful concert. “I think the orchestra played really well overall and I think my group did pretty good in our concert,” said violinist Jovanny Jaldin.