by KRISTEN WILSON
Special to the Sounder
For several years the Orcas High School Strings, under the direction of Pamela Wright, have brought home top ratings from music contests.
On Saturday, March 14, the Orcas Strings competed at the American String Teachers Association, State Orchestra Festival at WWU, and less than a week later they returned for the San Juan Music Educators Association Large Group Festival.
This was the Orcas group’s first appearance at the ASTA statewide festival, and they won First Place in the Chamber Orchestra (Small School) Division. They performed the Allegro and Presto movements of Mozart’s Divertimento in F Major. Following each ensemble’s performance, ASTA adjudicators provide an educational experience through expert comments and clinics. Students performing included Emy Carter, Michael Chesher, Michael Harlow, Anthony Kaskurs, Joanne Mietzner, Emily Toombs, Zach Waage and Paris Wilson. Wylie Kau was unable to make the trip. Emy Carter was selected by the 2015 Honor Orchestra of America to perform in that elite ensemble in Indianapolis on the same weekend of the ASTA contest, and she decided to play with the High School Strings, while Zach Waage gave up his spot in a Leadership conference that weekend.
“That’s the kind of group we have,” said Wright. “They are committed to each other.”
The student group Almost Classical (Emy Carter, Lisa Carter and Paris Wilson) also competed at ASTA and received second place in Eclectic Orchestra (Large School) Division.
“I could hear you on a soundtrack,” said one judge.
Less than a week later, the Orcas High School Strings headed to Bellingham again for the San Juan Music Educators Association Large Group Orchestra Festival on March 20. This is the fifth year the strings group has participated. And this is the fourth year in a row they brought home “superior” ratings, which are the highest you can receive in a music contest. Moreover, the Orcas group, competing among 15 ensembles, had the second highest overall score, only one point shy of the top score.
Orcas Island was the only Class B school competing among 14 other AA or AAA schools. The Orcas students received a one-plus rating and came within one point of the score earned by Sehome Chamber Orchestra group, an auditioned group from a school with nearly 10 times the enrollment of Orcas High School.
“The SJMEA Large Groups Orchestra Contest is a little different from other contests in that groups must perform several pieces, and they are then judged on their entire performance,” said Wright. “Our Orcas group chose the additional challenge of playing without a conductor.”
The strings performed all three movements of Mozart’s Divertimento in F Major, KV 138 and “Plink Plank Plunk” by Leroy Anderson.
Both of these trips would not have been possible without donations from the Music Advocacy Group. MAG paid the costs of registration and school bus transportation for the students.
The year-end Orcas High School music concert – featuring band and strings will be held on Thursday, June 4 at Orcas Center.
