In the choir room, Tuesday night, John Caldwell is trying to get his 93-student choir organized so they can squeeze onto the small stand that will be set up on the stage. The process is somewhat chaotic, but they are making progress. Meanwhile the orchestra is warming up in the auditorium — the sound of musicians noodling on their instruments comes wafting down the hall. Eventually Caldwell gets everyone sorted and they move into the concert hall, not to the stage but to their seats — it’s not their turn, yet.

First up is the Sky View Orchestra. Conductor Richard Kline announces their first selection to the audience, takes his baton and the orchestra begins. Tonight they will play four pieces:

They begin with the choral sounding Serenade For String Orchestra by Elena Roussanova Lucas. They follow this with the surprisingly difficult Emperor Variations by Franz Joseph Haydn.

Heart Wounds and Last Spring by Edvard Grieg has a lush sound that works well with these young musicians. And then they end with a strong playing of Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 was particularly challenging and rewarding to listen to. “This is an interesting selection that Bach came up with,” Kline explains before they start. “There are three solo violin parts, three solo cello parts, and three solo viola parts — the double basses, double the cellos.”

Soon their performance is finished with great applause from the audience of neighbors, friends and family.

“That was a wonderful experience,” said Kline after the show. “This is where all the hard work pays off for the kids. If you can’t have fun at this point, we’re doing the wrong thing. They worked hard all trimester. They deserve to have some fun playing that music. It was very nice.”

Now it’s time to see if the choir can fit 93-students onto the small stand the stage hands just set up. The choir files in and with a little shuffling — they fit.

The choir begins by singing a humorous folk piece called Reuben and Rachel. They follow it with a beautiful hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth by John Rutter. For the next song — a traditional spiritual called If I Got My Ticket — Grant Fuller, J.C. Price and Avery Sims for a trio in front of the stage. And the choir ends the concert with a wonderful rendition of Danny By by Frederick Weatherly with a beautiful obligato performed on the Alto Saxophone by Alex Batty.

“[The students] are really resilient,” said Caldwell after their performance. “You know they’ve had a lot of strange things thrown at them this last week and have been able to put things together and make it work.”

Orchestra

Choir

Concert Excerpts

• Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach (MP3 13MB)
• Reuben and Rachel a variation of a folk piece (MP3 2.2MB)