Walking past the senior high gym and being interrupted by the captivating, soft melodies of the Chamber Orchestra isn’t something that happens on any regular day.
On Sept. 12, the Alumni Foundation was blessed to witness a performance for their sixtieth reunion. The concert took place shortly after school started, giving the students only two and a half weeks to prepare.
The group played three different pieces, along with two performances done by soloists Alex Wang, ‘28 and Shaylin King, ‘26.
“It was a very short amount of time to do a lot of work, and they did, and we were able to put on a performance that I think they felt good about afterwards,” Chris Gibson, the chamber orchestra teacher, said.
At the beginning of each year, students take a seating arrangement test to determine where they will be seated during live performances. However, the test was delayed this year, and the results didn’t come until after the concert.
“We didn’t have the time, so we had to just jump into ‘pick a stand partner, pick a section and here we go,’” Gibson said. When it was time to perform, they were packed into a room facing their audience, and ready to go.
The concert was in the recital hall, causing some issues.
“The biggest struggle we had was to fit them all in one room,” Gibson said, “When you’re in our normal rehearsal space, it’s tight, but we can fit everybody, it’s not a big deal. But, the recital hall is smaller and not as wide.”
Because of the last-minute positioning, the students ended up face-to-face with their audience, which caused more stress to rise. However, this extra hiccup didn’t prevent King from playing her best.
“If I had to give it a rating, I would give it a ten out of ten,” King said.
This concert had a very special meaning to its audience, the Alumni Class of 1965..
“When they were here, they were in music programs. So they were really happy to see how good we were,” Gibson said.
WHHS underwent many renovations in the past decades, including adding new classrooms, hallways, wings and adding on to the cafeteria. For many of these Alumni, this is new territory, especially if they haven’t returned since their high school years.
“So if they’ve only come back after, say, thirty years, which is still a long time, this building [the Music Lyceum] didn’t exist,” Gibson said. “So for some of them, it was a new thing to see and really show off.”
The night after the performance, the Alumni were treated to a dinner, and accompanied by a trio from the Orchestra.
“The Alumni were still talking about it [the concert],” Gibson said. “The alumni seem to really like it. They come around and enjoy the end of the day, a little bit of music to send them off for whatever’s next.”
Following their performance, the Chamber Orchestra has continued to practice for future shows.
“The goal is always to leave [the audience] with a smile and a tune stuck in their head,” Gibson said.