Orchestra students Sam Williams (left) and Justin Lee (right), freshmen, rehearse in Room 251 on Sept. 17. After the orchestra’s Fall Concert on Sept. 27, select students began to prepare for another optional performance at Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School’s Solo/Ensemble Festival on Nov. 11. “I’ve been playing violin for a long time. I like practicing and performing and you don’t really get an opportunity to perform a duet with your friends often in front of a group of people,” orchestra student Samuel Lorenzili, a freshman, said. “So (the Solo/Ensemble Festival) was just the perfect opportunity.” Photo by Daniel Cruz
Members of the CCHS orchestra will participate in Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School’s Solo/Ensemble festival on Nov. 11.
Ensembles and individual members of the Clarke Central High School orchestra will participate in the Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School (BHL) Solo/Ensemble Festival on Nov. 11.
The event will take place at BHL, where sixth-12th grade orchestra students will perform solo and ensemble pieces for a panel of judges, who score participants on a scale from one to five with one being the best rating possible. According to fine arts department co-chair Eunice Kang, participants have been rehearsing their music for the festival since Sept.
“(The students) got (their Solo/Ensemble music) right after the Fall Concert, that was the first week of October. So we’ve been (rehearsing the music) for a month now,” fine arts department co-chair Eunice Kang said.
To CCHS orchestra student Samuel Lorenzili, a freshman, the Solo/Ensemble Festival serves as an opportunity to perform a duet, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, alongside fellow orchestra student Justin Lee, also a freshman.
“I’m pretty sure (Dr. Kang) was just (like), ‘All right, there’s this thing, the Solo/Ensemble Festival. I’d like you guys to be able to do it. Just choose a piece, and you’ll get to perform it.’ And me and Justin, we had been wanting to (perform a duet) together. And we were like, ‘Hey, this is a perfect opportunity,’” Lorenzili said.
“I’m pretty sure (Dr. Kang) was just (like), ‘All right, there’s this thing, the Solo/Ensemble Festival. I’d like you guys to be able to do it. Just choose a piece, and you’ll get to perform it.’ And me and Justin, we had been wanting to (perform a duet) together. And we were like, ‘Hey, this is a perfect opportunity,’”
— Samuel Lorenzili,
Freshman
While the orchestra’s busy rehearsal schedule proved difficult for Lorenzili and Lee to accommodate at first, Lorenzili remains confident that the duet will go smoothly.
“I’m feeling pretty good about it. At the beginning, I was a bit worried because I thought we wouldn’t even get it down well, but it’s coming (along) well,” Lorenzili said. “I’ve already played the piece, but it’s always fun to (learn) it in a new way with someone else being the main focus. It’s a bit of a challenge to communicate, but it’s a good challenge. It’s fun.”
