Orchestra concert features movie hits

By Andrea Ragni

The Winter Orchestra Concert will treat its audience to a Friday night at the movies. The concert will feature selections from many different cinema favorites.

Under the conduction of music department faculty member Emily Ray, the orchestra features many student musicians who will share their love of music and movies through the performance.

It was these students who pushed Ray to present an orchestra concert featuring songs from movies.

" Since a lot of classical music has been used in movies, I thought it would be enlightening and educational to rehearse and perform a mixture of some of these classical pieces and contemporary music written specifically for movies," Ray said.

The music that will be featured includes pieces from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Forrest Gump," "Apollo 13," "Braveheart," "Titanic" and "An American Tail." Other music is taken from cartoons including "Bugs Bunny," "The Smurfs" and "Fantasia."

Because of the light nature of the works being presented, those involved are aiming to appeal to children, in addition to their more typical audience. Members of the orchestra will be in costume as their favorite characters from movies if they choose, which they hope will make it even more entertaining to watch.

Santa Clara's orchestra is a mixture of students, students from other schools and community members. "We are not just a group of musicians making music," Alvin Chen, senior orchestra member and president of the Society of Music, said. "We are friends as well."

Many of the students participating have extensive musical pasts. Chen has been playing the piano for about 13 years and the violin for 10. Danielle Camardo and Chrissy Mogren both started playing the piano as young children and went on to learn how to play multiple instruments.

Senior Emmalisa Sparrow, who has played the violin for 15 years, says that while one can easily play on their own, it is much harder to play in an orchestra. "In a group, you really have to listen and pay attention to other people and their playing," she said. "There is a lot more you have to think about."

While classical music may not be typically appealing to all audiences, orchestra members feel this particular concert offers something more. "When you actually hear a piece you recognize, a link between the music and the listener is created and the listener will often catch himself or herself humming along," Chen said.

Mogren thinks this concert is a great one for people who have not attend orchestra concerts in the past. "The audience gets to hear the songs played live and see the instruments that are making the sound, which always manages to make me smile."

Because the selections are a "pop" type of classical music, many students find it easier to relate too than other classical music.

Camardo, Chen, Mogren and Sparrow all say that their favorite piece to play is the "Lord of the Rings Suite." They agree that the music is fun to play and each of them loved the movie. "It's an absolutely powerful piece with moments of sheer drama to delightful melodies to a heartwarming vocal solo," Chen said.

The concert will take place Friday at 8 p.m. in the Mission Church. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for faculty, staff and seniors, and $5 for all students.

* Contact Andrea Ragni at (408) 554-4546 or aragni@scu.edu.