Orchestras Hold Fall Term Concert
By SAM ALTMAN, LYDIA KUHNERT, MARVIN SHIM, and FORREST ZENG
On Nov. 10, the Academy’s three orchestra groups—symphony, chamber, and symphonia—performed a series of pieces for the Exeter community that featured compositions from both minority composers such as Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson and more classical composers such as Beethoven.
“All three orchestras played in a very engaged way,” orchestra program director Rohan Smith said. “They had a real sense of quality and mastery.”
The Perkinson piece in particular, namely, the second part of his Sinfonietta, was a unique addition to a program that is typically classical. “Perkinson is a relatively unknown black composer, but was highly respected within New York City,” described Smith. “He worked on Broadway, did a lot of jazz, but nevertheless had an enduring fascination for the classics. His music is astonishing.”
The chamber orchestra, a smaller group that meets during school blocks, also performed a movement from Romantic composer Gabriel Faure’s Pelleas et Melisande. Its airy atmosphere had a “typical sort of French ambivalence,” as Smith characterized. “It was both romantic and tragic at the same time.”
Finally, the chamber orchestra returned to the classics with a rendition of Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 in D major “London,” performing the first movement. “It was full of wit, high energy, and festivity,” Smith said. “That was a bit more familiar for most people.”
Smith also conducted the symphony orchestra, the largest orchestra at the Academy. He noted the orchestra’s impressive performance of Gioachino Rossini’s Overture to William Tell. “The overture had some very special solos,” Smith explained. “I chose this piece because we have an incredibly strong cello section. And they did an amazing job. The wind soloists were amazing as well—there’s a famous duet in the middle of the piece between the flute and the bassoon.”
Some student musicians commented on how the concert went from their perspective.“I thought the concert went well,” lower Leon Xie said. “We had a lot of mistakes that we wanted to shed and I think we accomplished that.”
“One piece that we played was called The Creatures of Prometheus in English, and it’s about how humans were bestowed with art and philosophy. It’s a very jubilant piece, and so our conductor, Mr. Smith, told us expressly that we needed to be a lot brighter with our sound, so we worked on that in the leadup to the concert,” Xie continued.
“We prepared throughout the term by practicing the full concert to be familiar with the pieces we would play. We also did separate rehearsals by instrument such as for strings, winds, and cellos. Finally, we also did some separate practices focused on the fast or hard parts of specific pieces,” prep Andy Liu commented.
The fall term orchestra concert is always an opportunity to see the hard work of both returning musicians and new students. This year, the orchestras have seen an especially high volume of new students, and their development has been remarkable.
“The preparation for the concert was very much like peeling an onion,” described Smith. “It’s about establishing skills, stage by stage. My challenge as a teacher and a conductor of these orchestras is how to work with limited material and keep the process interesting.”
The orchestra will continue to perform pieces from minority concerts, such as Huapango by Mexican composer Jose Pablo Moncayo, a difficult piece that integrates themes of dancing. Smith also hopes to continue the orchestra’s development as a diverse group of musicians throughout the year, and to also keep up the repertoire variety.
“I want to see how much further we can go in developing individual skills,” Smith concluded. “People are often mistaken in believing that individual musicians don’t matter when they only follow a conductor. As a conductor, I draw on everybody’s musical character.”