Vivace, the MS classical vocal ensemble, traveled to Anaheim in mid-May to sing at the Heritage Festival, an annual celebration of middle school choirs. Each choir sang three pieces of contrasting style for a panel of three judges and then received a clinic from one of the judges. “There are choirs from all around the country at this festival, so the students will have the opportunity to listen to other groups,” said the group’s director, Jennifer Cowgill, before they left.
The group performed “Sound the Trumpet” by Henry Purcell, a Spanish piece called “La Manana in Segovia” by Amy F. Bernon, and a medley of spirituals that included “This Train,” “Get on Board, Little Children” and “River Train.” The festival was held in the performing arts building at Fullerton College, and the students attended an awards ceremony in Disneyland with stellar results.
“The choir received a Superior rating from the adjudicators,” said Cowgill. “This is a huge accomplishment for these kids since this is the first time that I know of that a middle school choir from Harker has attended one of these festivals. I think that their confidence is much higher now! Because of this rating, we now have the opportunity to perform in one of Heritage’s gold level invitational competitions in either New York or Chicago next year.”
Crowds packed the Blackford Theater in May to catch two performances of the MS spring musical. This year, the troupe put on a rousing performance of the Broadway mainstay “Into the Woods,” Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece, which intertwines the stories surrounding several popular fairy tale characters, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Cinderella. In the process, the story also reveals the consequences of the characters’ actions and how they affect the lives of those around them. Because of the small cast size, the show was double-cast, meaning one group of performers did the show one night, and a second complete cast performed the next show.
MS performing arts teacher Kikau Alvaro directed and choreographed the casts, who sang and danced admirably throughout the elaborate production. Music teacher Roxann Hagemeyer was the musical director, while Paul Vallerga designed the beautiful scenery and props. The production was also helped along by student crew members Nicolas Semenza and Jeton Gutierrez, both Gr. 6, Wilbur Yang, Gr. 8 and Brian Tuan, Gr. 7.
Excitement was in the air in the Bucknall gym in late May, as the Gr. 1-5 dancers took the stage at the LS dance show. The show, titled “Road Trip,” featured a wide array of styles and themes based on exploring different parts of the United States. One rollicking number was set to the Elvis Presley classic “Viva Las Vegas,” while another displayed the Hawaiian art of hula dancing. Many faculty and staff members were in the spotlight as well, including Gr. 4 English teacher Katie Molin, who did the splits during one routine to a highly impressed audience.
A special performance by Japan’s Okayama Gakugeikan High School Symphonic Band had the morning crowd cheering at a special US assembly on March 16.
Having recently placed in the top 10 of a national high school band competition in Japan, the 60-member orchestra came to Harker as part of an American tour that included San Francisco, Santa Clara University and New York City. Their performance at the assembly included works from a variety of genres, from classical mainstays such as Pachelbel to more contemporary fare, such as their rendition of “I Need to Be in Love” by the Carpenters.
The band really got amped, however, during their cover of “The Sun Will Rise Again” by the Japanese pop group Aladdin. Musicians wrapped boa scarves around their necks and performed a choreographed dance routine during the number, complete with miniature Japanese and American flags. The crowd interaction hardly stopped there. On one song, the entire band (save for the rhythm section) ventured out into the audience, where they performed the duration of the piece.
In all, a welcome treat and an inspiring display of musicianship from this talented young troupe!
“The Music Man” conned his way into the Blackford Theater in April in a spectacular production from the Harker Conservatory. Director Laura Lang-Ree and musical director Catherine Snider guided a record-breaking 52-member cast through this charming Broadway favorite by Meredith Willson.
In another first, the cast included four Gr. 6 students, who more than held their own with their upper school counterparts. Katie O’Bryon created the energetic choreography, Paul Vallerga designed the huge and beautiful set, Brian Larsen oversaw the technical aspects, Caela Fujii supplied the lovely period costumes, Joan Sommerfield supplied the band with its instruments and all the other props, and Natti Pierce-Thomson lit the show beautifully. Excellent stage management was provided by Michael Prutton, Gr. 10, and the live band managed to sound like there were truly 76 trombones in the house.
The Harker Orchestra, led by director Chris Florio, traveled to New York in early April to compete in the National Orchestra Cup at Lincoln Center’s newly renovated Alice Tully Hall (see Harker News, Nov., 2008, page 1), where they earned a prestigious award and had a stellar time!
“Our students had a spectacular performance that truly captivated the judges and audience,” said Florio. “Although we were not awarded grand champions, we were given the festival staff award (the Forte Award), which is ‘awarded for positive attitude and best exemplifying the spirit of America and performance excellence.’ The festival staff stated that this award is very close to their hearts and not one that is given out lightly.”
Florio noted that another panel judge, who just happens to be a Saratoga High School graduate, “congratulated our orchestra on how high our performance level has become in such a short period of existence as an upper school. He was also very impressed that a high school orchestra could handle our difficult repertoire at such a high level.” Congrats to the 60+ members of the orchestra for an outstanding performance!
The lower, middle and upper school orchestras came together for a special spring concert on April 10 in the Bucknall gym. It was a special night for each orchestra, being the final performance of the school year.
The Bucknall orchestra bookended their set with George Frideric Handel’s “La Rejouissance” and “Hallelujah Chorus,” in addition to performing the third movement of Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 1.” The Gr. 6 orchestra performed the first movement of Mozart’s “Jupiter Symphony” and “The Overture to Barber of Seville” by Gioachino Rossini. The entire MS orchestra then performed “Bartered Bride” by Bedrich Smetana, followed by the Gr. 7 and Gr. 8 orchestra’s performances of pieces by Mozart, Edward Elgar, Antonin Dvorák and Johannes Brahms.
Fresh off of their trip to New York to perform at Alice Tully Hall, the US orchestra performed their renditions of Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46” and “Dance of the Tumblers” by Nikolay Rimsky Korsakoff, as well as pieces by Aaron Copland and Smetana that were performed in New York.
The upper school Orchestra is going to New York! The group, led by director Chris Florio, will travel in April to compete in the National Orchestra Cup at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. The hall just completed a $100 million renovation and is considered one of the top performance halls in the country.
“I have wanted to take the orchestra to New York for a couple of years,” said Florio. “Through research, I found out about the National Orchestra Cup and decided that competing in a newly renovated space like Alice Tully Hall would be a great opportunity.”
The group had to apply and pass a review before being green-lighted for the competition, said Florio. “There are several schools entered this year that I am familiar with, and their programs are going to be very challenging to compete against,” he noted.
Although the orchestra traveled to Eastern Europe in 2005 with a score of students, and to Paris in 2006 with almost twice that number, “this will be the first orchestra competition for Harker,” said Florio. “We will be taking 68 students to perform. We have had chamber groups participate in competitions in the past but those were with only a handful of students.”
One of those 68 students will be violinist Sonya Huang, Gr. 11. She started playing at Harker eight years ago. “I started off learning under Toni Woodruff, a Bucknall strings coach at Harker,” said Huang. “About a year later, I switched to an outside private teacher, and I’m currently studying under Li Lin, a teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory.”
Huang has been in first the middle school, then the upper school orchestras since Gr. 4. She made the Eastern European tour, seeing Prague, Vienna and Budapest with the upper school Orchestra while she was still in Gr. 7 and went on the Paris tour in Gr. 9.
“I’m looking forward to attending its third-ever tour,” said Huang. “We attend the CMEA (California Music Educators’ Association) orchestra competition every year, but that is a relatively small-scale competition. I’ve never par ticipated in a large orchestra competition before, and I think that this will be a great experience for all Harker orchestra members. It’s really such an honor that Harker has been chosen to participate in the National Orchestra Cup this year.”
Huang noted it won’t be all work. “We’ve scheduled many fun activities to do in New York, ranging from watching a performance by the New York Philharmonic, to touring New York landmarks, to shopping on Fifth Avenue,” she said. Then there is the event. “It’s going to be really thrilling to play in that famous venue, as many famous orchestras and musicians have played on that very stage. I’m especially looking forward to the competition because it’s a great chance to showcase our orchestra’s talent and hard work from the entire year.
“We’ll be playing some Copland, as well as a piece I originally recommended to Mr. Florio, Smetana’s “Ma Vlast.” To me, the latter is an especially beautiful work, and I love everything about the piece, from the flowing melody in the first violin sections to the dance-like motifs later on in the piece. So performing “Ma Vlast” on stage will definitely be one of the highlights of the competition for me! Of course, it would be great to win a trophy, but regardless of whether we win any awards, I believe that we’ll all gain extremely valuable performance experience, and of course, cherished tour memories,” Huang added.
It’s early days, and the group hasn’t felt the pinch of time yet. “There hasn’t been that much added pressure,” said Huang. “Sure, we’ve had our fair share of bad rehearsals, but we’ve also had many, many successful rehearsals as well. Mr. Florio hasn’t star ted tearing out his hair yet at our intonation, so I’d say we’re on the right track!”
The orchestra will have 25 minutes to perform and Florio selected Bedrich Smetena’s “The Moldau” from “Ma Vlast” and Aaron Copland’s “Saturday Night Waltz” and “Hoe Down” from “Rodeo” for their program, and “the toughest par t is definitely in the preparation of all the pieces,” said Huang. “When working on orchestral masterworks such as the Smetana, it’s difficult, with so many members of the orchestra, to convey the single unified idea that the conductor wants. Everyone has a slightly different interpretation of the piece at first, but we try our best to match up to the conductor’s interpretation of the music. And of course, sight-reading and learning the notes is difficult when we first receive the music, but eventually, with lots of hard practice, we’ll have the pieces down.”
Florio is intent on challenging his students. “I believe that Harker students work best when they have a competitive drive (so) I am anxious to see how far we can push ourselves, and how we stack up against other groups around the country.” Watch for updates on this adventure!
Students got an early look at Nichols Hall’s multimedia room in September. When finished, the room will be used to film video presentations and record live audio.
The room currently features a large green screen that can be used to display images behind subjects being filmed. It also contains two high-definition cameras for filming at multiple angles.
Fred Triefenbach, US assistant director of instructional technology, said a wooden floor would eventually be added so that dance students can use the room to film routines. A high-end computer containing the video editing software Final Cut Pro and the industry-standard recording suite ProTools is also on its way. Drapes will be added to absorb sound and cut down on reverberation, and equipment such as high-quality microphones, boom stands and an audio board have already arrived. The room will also be fitted with a new lighting array to reduce heat production. Triefenbach is currently researching different lighting solutions to determine what will best suit the room’s needs. A window has been installed between the multimedia room and the adjacent classroom, which will serve as a control room when recording equipment arrives and is properly configured.
After providing a brief summary of his plans for the room, Triefenbach had US music teacher Susan Nace direct her ensembles Cantilena and Camerata in renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and Pierre Passereau’s “Il est bel et bon” to test out the acoustics.