ELHS alumni accompanied the high school orchestra at a special-edition concert honoring 75 years of musical tradition on May 21.
Orchestra teacher David Rosin took great efforts to organize the concert, bringing together students and ELHS alumni for the performance. Rosin and his colleagues recruited alumni through social media and mailings. They also had a former orchestra teacher contact previous students.
“One of my colleagues about three years ago realized that it was the 75th anniversary and we were like, ‘let’s do something for it’,” Rosin said.
The middle school orchestras performed four songs, while encore strings and the symphonic orchestra performed one song each. The combined high school orchestras took the stage for two songs and the alumni performed two of their own, before joining the high school orchestras in one collaboration piece. Four of the pieces were specially written for the program.
The classes were on a tight schedule after playing a concert just a few weeks ago, but worked hard to make the most of class time.
First chair violinist Serafima Bezuglova (12) had certain responsibilities in class as they prepared for the concert. She communicated any bowing or fingering changes to her section, gave cues and tuned the orchestra. Bezuglova’s efforts in class are a reflection of her family history in classical music. She grew up surrounded by music, her father being a violinist, and her mother being a pianist, and has worked hard to earn her role as concert master.
As concertmaster, Bezuglova commands a massive role, particularly because the violin section is a popular choice for orchestra students.
“The other principals are also very important to their sections, but there are kind of the most violins,” Bezuglova said. “It’s not the most important, but it’s the most [prominent].
Violinist Veronica Polischuck (10) believed the concert made a big impact on the community and was proud of both the students’ and alumni’s performances.
“The concert was very touching to many [people],” Polischuck said. “We played really well and it was fun to see and meet the alumni.”
