Our second Virtuoso Program orchestra concert of the year welcomed an audience full of the SD community to its winter performance, “Music for Peace.”
The music coaches inspire these talented and dedicated students to reach new heights in their performance skills. The audience is inspired and moved by their work. I felt every note - and I know I was not the only one.
Jenn G.
What an amazing experience. Talk about awe!!!
Kathy H.
It was such a lovely and meaningful concert. Thank you for the gift of your music.
Kate R.
I was thrilled to bring my two young sons who couldn't believe that that music was played by high schoolers!
AnnaMarie B.
“A truly magical aspect of music is how, throughout history, it has been used to wordlessly speak directly to the human spirit. Despite how abstractly it communicates with us, music can offer us a private space in which to process the challenges of the world we inhabit, allow us time to take pause, and ultimately, hopefully, enable us to find peace.
And that does not mean the music itself needs to be peaceful! Our students would be the first to tell you that the experience of playing these pieces—treasures by Haydn, Bach, Shostakovich, and Piazzolla—is physical, emotional, and exhausting. And herein lies the beauty of our shared experience of live music in the concert hall, as we reflect on the breadth of emotion these composers and performers are expressing, allowing us to connect not only personally, but in community.
I invite you to imagine the…scene as Haydn describes it, in the church in Cádiz, for which his “Seven Last Words” were written: ‘The walls, windows, and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the center of the roof broke the solemn darkness.’ Surely, he knew the lamp was not the only light in that space. Composers for hundreds of years have explored themes of liberty, forgiveness, resilience, and peace, through the light of their music.”
–Director of Music Rob DeNunzio