The chapter of this year’s booming music program is coming to a close, and the performing arts are preparing final pieces before their way out to summer.
The orchestra in particular has led a more silent success where it reached superior ratings at its district contest and promoted student arranged pieces during its concerts. Their final concert was May 7 and included a surprise for the COVID seniors.
“When the current seniors were eighth graders at the middle school, we were planning on playing ‘Stairway to Heaven’ on our March concert. We had put quite a bit of effort into the music and were super excited to play it for the parents,” Orchestra Director Lori Cornett said.
Unfortunately, the day of the concert was when everything shut down for COVID and so we never got to perform it together. We are bringing this same piece back for the final number at the last concert.
Sharing their music with families nearby and informing people that orchestra is an option at the high school is an important factor in keeping the program alive. Not only that, extending performance outside of school offers more opportunities for the students.
“We had six students selected to be part of the East Central Regional orchestra in the fall, including four wind players from the band, which is a great honor for the school,” Cornett said. “We also spent a great amount of time out and about in our community performing at a lot of events during November and December. I am excited about all of the outreach that we did that gets young students excited about orchestra while serving our community.”
After years of dedicating their craft to one or multiple instruments, the seniors will put handprints in the cello closet wall and leave their instruments behind.
“I’m going to miss my orchestra family the most. I’ve really loved playing, but I come back to be a part of this group,” senior viola player Roma Yadav said.
The band is consistently one of the most active members in the music community and with the guidance of their new director, they were consistently able to prove themselves up until their final concert of May 15 alongside choir and orchestra.
“Joining the Wind Ensemble in memorializing our fallen members of the military are members of the Orange Choirs and Orange Orchestras in a large collaborative performance of John Williams’ ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ from the motion picture ‘Saving Private Ryan’.” Band Director Joshua Boyer said. “We also take time to acknowledge our students and especially our seniors as they perform their final concert, and it begins at 6:30 p.m..”
It’s an especially hard transition to have the new year with a new director that has a different perspective and way of teaching than the last. Each band ensemble handled it with grace and stayed efficient as they learned to adapt.
“The transition to a new director of a program is never an easy one, and I’m so proud of these students for never missing a beat over the course of the last year. They’ve faced every challenge head on and met or exceeded every expectation we’ve set for ourselves,” Boyer said. “From our first performance with the marching band last summer to our final concert next month, we’ve pushed ourselves and grown in every facet of our program.”
The students in choir have also helped bring the program up to another level from last year, achieving superior rating at their district and states contest and acapella group “Above the Noise” (ATN) making it to semi-finals in their major competition. Their “P.S. I Love You” showcase ended on May 5th and made for a great final performance with all the choirs.
“This is a show that was originally planned for the 2020 showcase and was never performed. We had two pieces arranged by our accompanist, one was made to honor the seniors, and my hope was for those 2020 alumni to come back and see how the program has grown,” Choir Director Cherie Brooks said. “I’ve been so impressed by these kids all year and how they’ve completely thrown themselves in and understood the music and the value of their performance. I just knew they were going to put on an amazing show.”
The acapella students have been particularly successful this year considering this is one of the only times in the school’s ATN and show choir history where they’ve made it this far in the competition. There is only hope that the seniors involved will continue to cheer on the underclassmen as they progress.
“I’ve been a part of choir since sixth grade and I know how much I’ve grown with singing, but growing up with a group like this and being so familiar with each other’s voices makes us feel a lot closer and I’m going to miss performing with them so much,” senior choir member Emily Ko said.
The theater program, Orangelight Productions, recently finished their spring musical Sister Act and was able to find recognition in the regional high school theater awards organization, Capa Marquee. Leading actress, senior Caira Fisher-Rogers, was selected to be a finalist in a group of 10 students in the state to be up for Best Actress. The show’s lighting design was also nominated for an award and if won will be received by senior lead Corinne Sampsel.
“We put on an incredible show and central Ohio has really great theater so I’m just so proud of how far this show reached the audience, we’ve heard nothing but wonderful things,” Theater Director Cathy Swain-Abrams said.
Capa Marquee is holding the awards ceremony at the Ohio Theater on June 6 and gave the opportunity to bring three students to represent the school. Sophomore Lainey Groves and junior Nic Franklin will be joining the show’s ensemble and senior Tess Stamolis will be their stage manager and call all cues for the show.
