On December 17, the Leesville High School orchestra held their annual winter concert. Overall, the concert was well-executed with beautiful music.
The concert opened with the string and chamber orchestras playing in unison. Their sound was magnified, and they played well together considering they are in separate classes.
The opening number, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” was accompanied by Jackson Overturf on percussion. Mr. Stiles conducted both orchestras as steam fell on the stage.
String orchestra, while less experienced, still performed well. They were in sync for the most part and they seemed to know their music inside and out.
The chamber orchestra was fabulous. They were very poised in their performance and played with expression and confidence. Chamber was in sync with Mr. Stiles’ conducting and they were very fun to watch.
Even though both orchestras played very well, it was obvious that the chamber members had more experience.
Mr. Stiles gave introductions and backgrounds to many of those, which was really interesting and informative to the members of the audience that weren’t very familiar with classical pieces of music.
The orchestra also played a variety of music. Though most of it was classical, they played everything from Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7” to the Spartacus theme song. Even amongst the classical pieces the music varied in tempo, tonality and musical techniques used. For example, some pieces were executed with smooth and slow bowing of the string instruments, while in other pieces, members plucked the strings for a sharp, staccato sound.
As a whole, Mr. Stiles and the orchestra put on a beautiful winter concert that was very well-executed and entertaining.
