By Tristan Weisenbach and Liz Ciocher
Managing Editor and News Editor
The College’s Orchestra held its final performance of the semester, themed “Past Becomes Future,” on April 19 in Mildred & Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall. The orchestra, composed of 54 performers, included 17 different instruments.
Among the musicians was trumpet soloist Grace Trumpy, a junior music education major, leading the performance of Alexander Arutiunian’s “Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in Ab major.”
“The trumpet solo was amazing,” said violin player and junior biology major Cecelia Lawyer. “Grace is amazing, and it’s always special being able to hear her play like that.”
Following Trumpy’s performance, Orchestra Director Uli Speth addressed the crowd to explain the origin of the 1950 piece, saying how the orchestration pulls from ideas found in Armenian culture.
In the second half of the show, the orchestra performed “Symphony No. 5 in D major, op. 107,” composed by Felix Mendelssohn. Speth explained that the hymns heard throughout this piece date back to 16th century Germany, when theologian Martin Luther challenged the Catholic Church for the first time.
“We were weaving in the concerto with the Mendelssohn,” Speth said in an interview after the show. “Leading up to [the performance], in the concerto there are parts that are very difficult, so we had to start at a slower tempo.”
The audience, which gave Trumpy a standing ovation at the end of the concerto, was enthusiastic throughout the night. Among the crowd was Colleen Trast, a 2015 music graduate of the College and Ewing Public Schools orchestra teacher, who attended the concert to support one of her former students performing in the show.
Trast, who plays cello, described the orchestra’s cellists as “a nice full section.” She also enjoyed both of the songs selected for the program, having known them both.
“The first one was really interesting because you don’t hear that composer a lot,” she said. “And the second one’s a classic, so I thought it was a great mix of old and new.”
Lawyer also enjoyed the song choices, citing the concerto as her favorite. She described the preparation for the songs to be rather rigorous.
“This concert took a lot of preparation going into it, especially the Mendelssohn,” Lawyer said. “There were a lot of intricacies in it that made it like you had to practice it on your own.”
Cassi McDermott, a junior chemistry major, attended the concert to support Lawyer.
“[The orchestra] was amazing and I loved it. They were very sophisticated pieces,” she said. “I’ve seen the orchestra maybe three times, I came for my friend Cecelia. She slays.”
In addition to providing performing experience for the musicians, the event also helped fund music student scholarships, according to the concert programs handed out at the beginning of the show.
While this was the last orchestra concert of the semester, the musicians will be back in action in the fall.
