AHS’ annual Fall String Concert was held on Thursday, Oct. 25th, at 7 p.m. Six orchestras from the district, including all three of AHS’ orchestras and the orchestras from Dana Middle School, First Avenue Middle School, and Foothills Middle School, performed their own unique pieces with fervor. Here are some musicians’ thoughts on the performances.

Orchestra 2 member junior Sean Park described that “overall the concert went pretty well. We sounded a lot better than we did back in class, and I think that’s a great improvement already. Our first song, “Allegro Con Brio,” improved a lot over this past month, and I think it’s wonderful that we’re able to improve that much so fast. I think the other groups were great too, especially Orchestra 3, and I can’t wait for the Holiday Concert with some nice Christmas music! Buy tickets from me!”

“We did well on ending the pieces together; however, we could have improved on staying together throughout the songs. We also could have improved on intonation, balance, and dynamics. Overall, I like performing so I thought it was fun. For future performances, we need to work on the [challenging parts] more,” added Orchestra 2 member junior Leilani Lemus.

For Orchestra 2 member junior Michelle Zhao, “the performance was pretty good in general and was a nice way to kick off the new year for the orchestra. Volume was definitely not a problem since we have so many people. And since we have more people, it helps people be more confident and play out more instead of being timid and making the orchestra sound hesitant. Sounding confident makes the orchestra sound exponentially better, in my opinion.”

The Performing Arts Center was full of family members and parents supporting not only the musicians, but the district’s music program through ticket profits. By attending the concert, the audience experienced each of the schools’ distinctly creative and impressive performances that months of effort had gone into preparing for. If you missed out on any of the performances, be sure to watch the upcoming Holiday Concert on Dec. 12 and 13!

Photo by Sandi Khine