After many rehearsals and a nerve-wracking audition process, the Region 26 High School String Orchestra (HS String Orchestra) performed on Nov. 13 at 5 p.m. in the PAC.

The HS String Orchestra performed Colas Breugnon by Dimitri Kabalevsky and Polovtsian Dances by Alexander Borodin.

“In the Polovetsian Dances, I really love how you can hear the percussion in the back. You can feel the intensity rise until you hit the climax point,” Niveya James Ravichandran ‘18 said. “Also, the speed and notes make it really fun for violins.”

Since the percussion section was featured prominently in the song, string musicians coordinated with them in order for the performance to run smoothly.

“I think getting the rhythms together with the percussionists was one of the hardest parts of preparing for the concert,” Lillian Young ‘18 said.

However, percussion wasn’t the only section that took center stage.

“We were lucky enough to have prominent oboe parts, so there are a lot of nice solos that I got to play, which I was happy to play,” Katie Jones ‘16 said. “We don’t always get that — sometimes the oboes are just in the background.”

Most members of the orchestra were pleased with their performance.

“I think the performance went really well. There might have been a few mistakes, but, overall, it was great,” Andrei Demkov ‘19 said. “We did a lot better than we did in rehearsal which was a nice surprise.”

Although many of the musicians were pleased with their performance, there were elements that needed improvement.

“I would have played louder; I don’t think I projected as much as I would have liked,” Demkov said.

The audition process started on Oct. 9 and ended on Oct. 10. Participants were separated by instrument into different rooms where judges listened from behind a curtain.

“I prefer having the judges behind a curtain, just because it’s better to have eyes behind me staring instead of eyes in front and behind me staring,” Ravichandran said.

Chair rank was determined by an average of the judges’ scores, the highest score of which was discarded. However, both the audition and the concert were rewarding regardless of chair rank.

“Well, I’m really competitive, so I like to be first, but the second oboe part for these pieces was just the same as the first, just without some of the prominent spots,” Jones said. “I like my chair, but if I was a lower chair, I would be okay with it because the experience would be just as fun.”

Above all, the students value the experience the most.

“These conductors are university conductors,” Ramanathan said. “It was interesting to see a different conductor and their way of approaching things, which I know will help me along the road.”

Contributions by Julie Kim