During family weekend orchestra will play “Four Minutes and 33 Seconds” by John Cage.
Orchestra is experimenting with a new piece called “Pictures of an Exhibition” that combines both classical and electronic music.
From electronic music to 20th-century pieces by American composers, Andover’s music ensembles are experimenting with newer, unconventional repertoire this term. Such ensembles include Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Amadeus Orchestra, and Jazz Band.
Apart from the arrival of new Band Director, Ray Daniels, Orchestra Conductor Christina Landolt expressed her enthusiasm for the orchestra repertoire this fall.
“We’re experimenting with something totally out of our comfort zone. We’re playing ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ [by Modest Mussorgsky], but we’re playing a combination of the piano version, the orchestral version, and [the] electronic music version. In Chamber Orchestra, we’re going with Amadeus [and] playing ‘In C’ [by Terry Riley]. The composer actually wrote back to us and sent well wishes for our performance,” said Landolt.
Ani Bayramyan ’24 is a violinist in the Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra. As she steps into her final year in the ensembles, she is excited to rise to a leadership position, assisting newer players with approaching contemporary performance techniques.
“The first few rehearsals were pretty exciting and interesting. Since we have different pieces this year, we had sectionals where me and a few other seniors [coordinated] with a smaller group to better our performance… We also got to know the new students, which was very nice,” said Bayramyan.
Ethan Liu ’26, a saxophonist in the Jazz Band and violinist in the Symphony Orchestra, looks forward to the experience of playing around with different genres of music.
“I’m looking forward to having a great time playing with my older friends from last year that I’ve already built connections with, and make new connections with students and hopefully make some pretty powerful performances throughout the year,” said Liu.
New to Andover’s orchestras, violinist Melody Oh ’27 remarked on how the music is different from what she is used to, but she is eager for the challenge of playing contemporary music.
“Although orchestra might sound really boring, I feel like it’s like a group sport because you’re collaborating to achieve a mutual goal. In sports, that’s like winning a game. In orchestra, you’re creating one piece of music. I’m really hoping to gain that sense of community [and] that sense of bonding. I firmly believe that orchestra makes you feel that sense of bonding,” said Oh.
