By David Fang, executive news editor
On Tuesday May 17th, Prospect’s Orchestra program held its final concert of the year. The concert marked the of a unique and exciting year for the orchestra.
One of the highlights of the night were the senior soloists that were featured. Senior Peter Hong was featured on Clarinet. He and orchestra performed Carl Maria Von Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2.
The orchestra also performed a novelty piece called “The Typewriter” which described a typewriter concerto and featured Senior Matthew Fergus. Orchestra director Peter Weber said that the orchestra had to try multiple typewriters to find the proper sound they were looking for.
The event was also not short of contemporary pieces. The combined concert and chamber orchestra performed the Coldplay song “Viva La Vida”. “Viva La Vida was also one of pieces that they played on the orchestra’s trip to New York which happened over spring break.
The concert was not all smooth sailing, though. Minutes before the beginning of the concert, word was spreading that the concertmaster of the chamber orchestra had fallen ill. When Weber heard the news, he took action immediately.
“I immediately had to switch right to problem solving,” said Weber. “There was really no room for overreaction.”
After meeting with two other violinists, Sophomore Cameron Gates and Junior Grace Piotrowski, Weber quickly made the decision to have them play the solos meant for the concert master.
In addition, the end of the concert also meant the distributing of awards to many of the orchestra members. Weber recognized students who contributed greatly over the past four years. Seniors Elai Kobayashi-Solomon, Amanda Lowe, and Fergus were among some of the seniors recognized.
Next year, the orchestra will continue to explore many of the great orchestral works available as well as continue to add performance opportunities for the students.
“An unsaid motto [for us] is ‘better every day’,” said Weber. “Every single day we get a little bit better and those days add up to one great, big thing.”