Samo orchestras leave sold-out audience in awe
Matilde Martinez-Navarrete / The Samohi
Intermezzo Orchestra performs at the Spring Concert.
On March 7, the Samo Orchestra Program put together its long-anticipated 2024 spring concert, where all eight orchestras got the chance to perform their pieces to a sold-out audience. Before the doors opened, concert-goers were able to enjoy tacos from a taco stand right outside of Barnum. Ryan Behzadi (’24), a violinist for the Philharmonic Orchestra, and his fellow musicians had been working on these compositions since before their winter concert. Now, Behzadi looks back on the night with pride as he recalls his favorite moment of the concert.
“My favorite part was easily ‘Finlandia,’” Behzadi said. “I have been listening to it on repeat. Playing it in Barnum brought this immense warmth to me that I have never felt with another piece. I love the dramatic [and] dynamic changes that Sibelius meticulously placed.”
Like many other compositions that night, “Finlandia,” Philharmonic’s third piece, featured lively and jovial melodies. It seemed that as the night progressed, each performance was more animated and energetic than the last. Sinfonia Orchestra surprised the audience by playing the entirety of its first piece, “Finale from Symphony No. 12,” standing up. Before intermission, the Chamber Orchestra serenaded the audience with rousing the fourth and fifth movements of “Serenade for Strings, Op. 22.” Philharmonic’s set also featured a fifteen-minute long funeral march. To finish the night, Symphony Orchestra played Brahms’ lyrical and triumphant “Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73.”
Matilde Martinez-Navarrete / The Samohi
As the 2023-2024 school year rapidly comes to an end, every concert is a countdown to the seniors’ eventual departure. Behzadi reflects on his time in the Orchestra Program.
“It was melancholic but not terribly sad because I know I will continue whipping out my violin on stages in college,” Behzadi said. “Though, I am savoring it and I know that Beethoven, Sibelius, and Franz Von Suppé was the best way to top off my high school repertoire.
Several Samo musicians will take the stage again on Saturday, March 16, for Stairway to the Stars. The following week, Symphony Orchestra will depart on its tour of Germany, where they are set to play in Leipzig and Berlin. The Orchestra Program will perform together once again on May 2 at their annual Pops Concert.
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