Orchestra director Kou Lee said the orchestra program’s upcoming alumni concert is significant, not just for orchestra, but for the music department in general.

“It really builds the culture in St. Louis Park when you maintain that kind of connection because if you don’t have alumni’s who return whether to play or just to come to the concert then I feel like there’s no importance placed on the string program or music in general,” Lee said.

Sophomore violinist Hilda Habia said she’s looking forward to the opportunity to showcase the orchestra’s musical talents.

“I’m excited to play for the audience, to play what we’ve been working on since the beginning of the school year,” Habia said.

According to Lee, he’s working on preparing the students through unconventional methods.

“I think it’s important to also prepare mentally. What I mean is that we’ve been doing so much rehearsal — we’ve been doing the same thing over and over again so I’ve been bringing out pieces for students to sight read so they don’t get so exhausted and so they have something to look forward to in the concert,” Lee said. So I guess one way of preparing for (the concert) was to not rehearse so much.”

Lee said the two orchestra classes will play this music together for the first time this year.

“Getting the two classes together (is exciting) because it’s always been, we play the same music and then the orchestra comes together,” Lee said. “I’m excited to have some of the students meet each other, too. We might do some community bonding.”

According to Habia, there is a lot being done in preparation for the performance, including a combined rehearsal the day of the concert.

“We’re practicing out pieces in orchestra as a group and then sometimes we go for sectionals because we’re all in different sections,” Habia said. “We’re going to practice as a whole orchestra for the first time.”

Lee said the concert holds a very special place for orchestra and can have some lasting effects on the music classes at Park.

“It’s important to maintain that culture, because it’s also for kids who are coming to the high school, too.,” Lee said. “You want to have band, choir and orchestra. You want to have every opportunity that you can have for students to just experience music.”

According to Lee the concert will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 20 in the high school auditorium.