Photo credit: Samantha Jarkin (’14)
Chamber Orchestra is a 16-member String Ensemble that will learn college-level music at a faster pace. Auditions for the program were held during 5th period on September 6th and 11th. Results were posted Wednesday, September 12th.
Orchestra director Gary Wampler explained, “This year we have over 60 members in our string orchestra whereas in past years we have had from 38-48 members. Therefore, we now can offer to a small group advance music and still maintain a full, large string orchestra during our period 5 class time.”
They will be rehearsing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during their class period and will practice with the full orchestra on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
Besides performing with the full ensemble, they will be playing additional music such as the Concerto #8 by Corelli. They will also perform at music festivals in March, at their annual trip to Disneyland, and in many concerts throughout the year.
The program features Max Chern (’13), Peter Bui (’13), Lizette Nguyen (’15), Linh Phan (’14), Tyanna Bui (’14), Patrick Woo-Sam (’13), Jonathan Hwang (’14), and David Wood (’14) on the violin; Samantha Jarkin (’14), Ann Vu (’13), and Tammy Nguyen (’13) on the viola; Stefania Pombo (’14), Kevin Bui (’14), and Tori Kadulski (’16) on the cello; and Christopher Chung (’13) and Chance Longsworth (’15) on the bass. Each and every one of them worked very hard in order to achieve their goals.
“In order to prepare for my auditions I would bring my violin home every weekend and every other day on the weekdays and just play the hard parts of the song we were supposed to play,” Linh Phan (’14) stated.
Similarly, Patrick Woo-Sam (’13) explained: “I learned two three-octave scales. I chose the A major scale and the G major scale. I also spent a lot of time practicing the first movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No.3.”
The audition process was judged by violin coach Daniel Oguri, viola coach Corinne Olsen, bass coach Chris McCarthy, cello coach Gloria Taulle, and band director Mark Irons. The participants had to play a piece called Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, sight-read music within 15 seconds, and play two scales in two octaves.
“I was incredibly thrilled to have made the chamber ensemble and I’m particularly excited to get started on the baroque pieces that our music director, Mr. Wampler, has selected for the fall semester,” Tammy Nguyen (’13) declared.
