Orchestra and band students had a concert at the Round Rock ISD Performing Arts Center (PAC) on Tuesday, Feb. 16, to prepare for full orchestra UIL. The three orchestra and band levels began learning the set of pieces they performed four months ahead of time in order to prepare for UIL.

“This concert was one of the best we’ve ever had,” Shoumik Roychowdhury ‘22 said. “The directors were really able to strengthen our weakness and make our strengths stronger than ever before.”

The Concert Orchestra began the performance with Soliloquy, a sweet and light piece composed by Brendan McBrien, and followed it with a leisurely played piece On a Beautiful Evening While Out Walking arranged by Michael Story. They ended with a strong piece Quest for the Grail composed by Michael Mogensen, which featured a solo by Nirupam Kushalnagar ‘22 on the violin.

The Philharmonic Orchestra performed next, and started off with Overture to Djamileh, composed by George Bizet, which was a fast-paced and unique song. The next piece they performed was In Memoriam composed by Johan Halvorsen, which was a mournful funeral march, and they followed with another quick-moving and exciting piece, Danzon No. 2, composed by Arturo Márquez. It featured solos by Philip Wong ‘22 on the violin, Sarah Qi ‘22 on the piano, Sydney Thornborrow ‘20 on the clarinet, Sanjana Kumar ‘21 on the flute, and Alleyah Forrister ‘22 on the trumpet.

“It was a really great and challenging experience because the pieces we played were at a pretty high difficulty,” Wong said. “Playing the solo for the group was amazing and challenged me in ways I couldn’t have thought.”

The Symphony Orchestra was the last to play, and began their program with a short and upbeat piece, Introduction to Act III from the opera Lohengrin and composed by Richard Wagner. The next piece they played was an expressive and melodic piece, Andante Sostenuto, from Symphony no. 1 in c minor, op .68 composed by Johannes Brahms, which had a solo by Margaret Seo ‘19 on the violin. The concert ended with a lengthy, fast-paced piece with a unique sound called Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath from Symphonie Fantastique, composed by Hector Berlioz, with a solo by Cordell Foulk ‘19 on the french horn.

“All of our pieces were very dynamic and exciting to play,” Dohyun Kim ‘22 said. “The first piece was very exciting and the second piece was really beautiful.”