RHS orchestra director Sara Long clenched her baton as she stood at the podium, ready to conduct the Chamber Orchestra for their Honor Orchestra Recording competition at St. Barnabas Church.
The Honor Orchestra competition, run by the Texas Music Education Association, seeks to recognize high quality performances of advanced musical pieces in the state of Texas. The RHS Chamber Orchestra has been preparing for their recording since the end of last year, practicing Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony. They ranked 30th in the state of Texas.
“We are striving to make the RHS orchestra a name for itself, for the whole state to know,” Orchestra Director Sara Long said. “We are definitely better than we were last year with much more maturity and heart in our musicality and our music.”
Students from Chamber Orchestra feel that their performance was a success, especially compared to their recording from last year.
“The honor orchestra recording went really well,” viola player Shraddha Bista said. “We have definitely improved from our first recording last year. The orchestra put in a lot of time and effort, so I am really proud of how it came out.”
Last year, the orchestra competed for the first time in the Honor Orchestra Recording and ranked 30th in the State of Texas. Students hope to rank much higher this year.
“As an ensemble, we have grown both numerically and musically,” violin player Lilly Steiner said. The quality of our sound is much more mature this year, and I hope the judges recognize our improvements.”
A sense of nervousness and stress pervaded the musicians before the recording. The chamber orchestra raced to get everything perfect for the judges.
“The whole orchestra was fearful of not playing well enough,” cellist Tess Raven said. “Nervousness and stress were definitely the main challenges before the competition.”
Links to the Chamber Orchestra’s recordings are listed below.
Simple Symphony Boisterous Bourree Movement 1: https://www.charmsoffice.com/charms/SchoolFilesNew/richhso/Public//01%20Track%201.mp3
Simple Symphony Sentimental Serabande Movement 3:
https://www.charmsoffice.com/charms/SchoolFilesNew/richhso/Public//02%20Track%202.mp3
Simple Symphony Frolicsome Finale Movement 4:
https://www.charmsoffice.com/charms/SchoolFilesNew/richhso/Public//03%20Track%203.mp3
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