By Deemah Pulak
The Philharmonic Orchestra stood up and cheered as orchestra director Cathy Wiechmann stepped onto the bus and held up the shining trophy. Both Philharmonic and Chamber orchestras took sweepstakes at the 2015 UIL Regional competition hosted by Rockwall Heath.
“We were all very excited when we found out,” freshman Abreham Bekele said. “Everyone was screaming out of happiness.”
Some students were surprised when they found out they won.
“I was shocked because at the end of everything, I felt kind of stressful,” freshman Ayesha Ali said. “We didn’t expect to receive perfect scores, let alone sweepstakes.”
With a score of 1 indicating a superior performance, the Richardson Philharmonic Orchestra received 1s all around for their overall performance.
“We’ve been putting in a lot of effort as an orchestra in school for this UIL competition, so I feel like we deserved it,” freshman Jennifer Lee said. “I’d sometimes get home late from rehearsal and have to cram all my homework that night.”
For UIL, the orchestra had to perform three rehearsed pieces and one sight reading.
“I thought we didn’t do well on sight reading, but it turns out we did,” Bekele said. “I can say that all those after-school rehearsals and hours of practice have paid off.”
Lee has been part of orchestra for four years, and wants to continue until her senior year. She said she also hopes to play with Chamber, the highest section of orchestra.
“I find playing instruments really fun and cool,” Lee said. “Instruments have kind of been a part of me all my life.”
Ali said orchestra has always been a great experience for her.
“From field trips to competitions, orchestra has always been really fun with all my friends,” Ali said. “I’ve gotten closer to lots of people and orchestra has given me lots of connections.”
Chamber musicians are preparing for their next performance at the Chamber Music Festival later this year. As they rehearse, compete and perform more, students hope their success will pay off.
“We’re a pretty strong group as a whole, and I know that in the future we’ll be consistent, or probably do even better,” Bekele said.
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