On April 1, the Chamber Orchestra boarded a plane to commence their four-day trip to New York City to perform at the National Band and Orchestra Festival held in world renown Carnegie Hall.

“It was a challenge,” stated senior cellist Jacob Ginn. “We’ve been working on this for six months and we’ve been preparing for two years, so for it to be able to come together now was really the apex of our high school orchestral experience.”

The event was a music festival (of a sort) and therefore, there were no awards. However, the judges awarded PHS Chamber Orchestra the highest overall score and praised their musical talents.

“One thing the judges mentioned to me is that the music we played captured the soul and the essence of music. That’s what music is about– not trying to play the notes,” explained orchestra teacher and conductor Dr. Alex Zheng. “The judge told me that [our] performance was the highlight of the entire festival.”

Carnegie is one of the most well known concert halls in the world, and the members of the Chamber Orchestra felt, in addition to their nervousness, a sense of awe and accomplishment.

“It was fantastic.,” stated senior cellist Mason Welch. “It was kind of surreal being able to go and play there because right before you go in, there’s pictures of all the famous people like Tchaikovsky or The Beatles that have performed there before and now its like you’re one of them. So it was cool to go to an iconic place like that.”

The students enjoyed their time roaming the streets of New York in the days prior to their performance at Carnegie Hall. The students visited Ellis Island, the Empire State Building and watched the world famous musical Les Misérables on Broadway.

“It was an experience that we’re all going to remember,” stated senior violinist Jared Nettles. “Not just playing there, but being in New York City with some of our best friends.”

Dr. Zheng expressed the pride he felt for his students as they successfully performed at one of the most famous concert halls in the world.

“They did amazingly well. We’ve been working on this and preparing for this trip since half a year ago. This music is not typical High school music, it’s sophisticated, professional music,” explained Zheng. “[The students] really focused on this and made a great effort because we set a goal, and we tried to reach that goal and we did beautifully at Carnegie. The judges were overwhelmingly impressed by the quality of this music-making.”