Lower, Middle and Upper School Orchestras Delight Audience at Spring Concert, MS Chamber Groups Warm Up Lobby Crowd
Harker’s musical talent shined in the recent campuswide Spring Concert, presented by the school’s music departments. Lower, middle and upper school orchestras united on stage, to the delight of friends, parents and faculty members in attendance.
Held in mid-April at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose, the show featured a unique pre-concert lobby music performance by the middle school chamber ensembles. Kicking off the concert, the Lower School String Ensemble opened with “Burst,” by Brian Balmages, and “Battle of the Ancient Dragons,” by Rob Grice.
The Lower School Orchestra then performed two numbers before being joined by the Grade 6 Winds, Strings and Orchestra. Then the Grade 7-8 Orchestra took the stage, performing Johannes Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme,” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
A special treat was the K-12 combined orchestra, which played a beautiful rendition of “Hornpipe” from Handel’s “Water Music.” A brief intermission followed after which the The Harker School Orchestra showed their range of skill by performing such high-level pieces as Felix Mendelssohn’s “Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The Spring Concert was a joy to attend and skillfully directed by its respective upper, middle and lower school conductors: Chris Florio, David Hart, Louis Hoffman and Toni Woodruff.
“We had a very challenging program and the students truly stepped up their game for a wonderful performance. I was especially happy to honor such an amazing group of musicians. This class has been a huge part of the growth of the orchestra program and it was fitting that they ended with such a wonderful concert,” said Florio.
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