On Friday, May 11, Choate’s music ensembles continued the tradition of performing during alumni weekend. All of the groups — Wind Ensemble, String Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, and Jazz Ensemble — gathered in the chapel after weeks of rehearsals. The standing ovation they received at the end of the performance demonstrated the talent and hardwork of this group of students.
Kiki Kim ’20, one of the audience members, said, “I really enjoyed the performance. Everyone was very talented. One of the performances that I really liked was a performance by the Jazz Ensemble. Students and Mr. Philip Ventre [the Orchestral and Jazz Ensemble Director] wore wigs which made a great impression on me. I hope there will be more performances throughout the year like this so that more people can come and hear the wonderful performance together.” What the audience might not have realized, however, is that behind the beautiful performance were the hardships students had to overcome.
One of the difficulties the Symphony Orchestra faced was scheduling conflicts. Two weeks before the concert, students found out that due to a timing issue with the Juilliard School pre-college program, the orchestra’s principal, Annett Ho ’18, and co-principal, Eliana Kim ’20, would not be able to attend the concert. Although the co-principal did make it in the end, Michael Zhou ’18 and Se Ri Lee ’19 were told that they would fill in for their classmates for this concert. Discovering this with such short notice was unfortunate, for Zhou had to prepare an entire solo part from the Rachmaninoff Symphony No 2.
Another hardship was that certain members of the orchestra could not make it to rehearsal due to sports and extracurriculars. Lee said, “I think people played well compared to rehearsals the orchestra had and I think it was mostly because the people were focused. This concert was definitely one of the successful concerts we’ve had.”
Mark Su ’18, a violinist, said, “Having to sit in a position where I have to lead a whole violin section, I learned that it wasn’t only about me but it was about having to be responsible for the section. When the section needed help, I was the person they were relying on. Having that kind of pressure, I had no choice other than to push my limits and practice a lot.” Many students were thankful that this concert was a success, not just due to the feeling of accomplishment, but also because for some, it was their last experience performing at Choate.
Su, a current sixth former, said, “Realizing that this concert had marked the last performance of not only this year but my Choate career, I had a lot of mixed feelings. I was very pleased with our performance, but at the same time, I couldn’t believe that this was my last one. Having to play with the orchestra in Choate, I have learned a lot by being part of this community and environment, especially having to perform in groups. I learned a lot from incredible musicians surrounding me like Annett Ho, who goes to Juilliard every weekend, asking for her advice about different ways I could improve.”
Last Friday’s performance was a successful and important one for the Choate community. However, Su said, “One thing I would have changed about this event would be the way the Choate community delivered the message that a performance was happening. I think it would have been better if there was a separate email informing the community about our performance so that more people would have showed up, enjoyed it, and appreciated our hard work. Hopefully, next time there is a concert played by our fellow peers, the message will be clearly delivered.”
