By Hannah Han ’21 and Celine Park ’21

Students from seventh to twelfth grade travelled to the Viewpoint School to perform for the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) Music Festival on Feb. 3. Middle School Performing Arts Chair Emily Reola and Upper School Symphony conductor Mark Hilt selected a few students to attend the event which occurred on Feb. 4 at 5 p.m.
Middle School Symphony cellist Lauren Cho ‘21 explained the preparation process for the event.
“On Friday we rehearsed from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m, and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The practice itself was rigorous. We had auditions to decide which chair we were seated in and the choice of auditioning for a solo,” Cho said.
The symphony played three pieces, and Middle School Symphony violinist Kailey Suh ‘21 described what it was like to play them.
“The first piece is Concerto in D Minor by Antonio Vivaldi, which I had the hardest time playing… because it was really quick. The second piece is Holberg Suite Prelude by Greig, a heavy march band-like piece, and the last piece was the Third and Fourth Movements of Legends by Loris Chobanian,” Suh said.
Suh said she felt intimidated but felt that the experience was worthwhile in the end.
“At first I was scared because I thought the kids were better and older than me, but when we started rehearsing it was really fun. I think we all did very well,” Suh said.