Musicians come together in local concert
Orchestra performs at West Metro Conference Orchestra Festival
February 10, 2015
Sound radiated from the auditorium as four schools around the Twin Cities joined with the high school orchestra to participate in the West Metro Conference Orchestra Festival on Thurs. Jan. 29.
Orchestra director Miriam Edgar worked hard to coordinate with the other high schools in order to create a successful performance. She invited high school orchestras around the metro to perform on the St. Louis Park stage.
“The festival will be split up into two sessions. Cooper and SLP will perform in the morning and Bloomington Kennedy, Bloomington Jefferson and Chaska/Chanhassen will perform in the afternoon,” Edgar said.
Freshman Zoe Weinmann said she enjoys the idea of orchestra groups from around the cities joining together to perform for each other.
“I’ve only seen orchestra concerts from our district and it’s really interesting that we get a chance to see other high school orchestra groups perform,” Weinmann said.
For the first time in three decades, St. Louis Park hosted and participated in the orchestra festival.
“I’m really excited and nervous about the performance because I’ve never hosted a major event before and I’ve never even been to a festival,” Edgar said.
In addition, to all the orchestras getting a chance to hear each other perform, clinician Elizabeth Barnes worked with the orchestras.
“The biggest thing I hope for everybody is to get a lot out of it and learn a lot, not just from the clinician but from observing other school orchestras and directors. Seeing what other orchestra groups do in the metro area is really important for our orchestra,” Edgar said.
The orchestra will be hosting a Rock Concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 in the auditorium and a Concierto Concert 7 p.m. March 12 in the auditorium.
