High School orchestras to present fall concert

The Ponca City High School Chamber Strings and Symphony Strings Orchestras will take to the stage to present their fall concert Tuesday, Oct. 30.

The program will begin at 7 p.m. in the West Middle School Auditorium.   Director of Orchestras Paula Cochran will be assisted by Jaryd Hinch and Katie Rolf. There is no admission charge and the public is invited.

The 28-member Chamber Strings Orchestra, under the direction of Jaryd Hinch, will perform three selections to begin the concert. The first piece will journey through the solemn and intense escape from slavery through Soon Hee Newbold’s North Star to Freedom. Following is Susan Day’s dynamic Tango d’Amour. This piece’s score was purchased through a donation by local Farmers Insurance agent Kenny Wheeler for the group to perform at OSSAA contest in November. The freshmen will then close their portion of the concert with Halloween vibes through Critter Crawl by Carol J. Johnson.

The 61-member Symphony Strings Orchestra, under the direction of Paula Cochran, will take the stage next. The group’s first two selections, Jean Sibelius’s soaring Andante Festivo and Brian Balmages’s haunting Legend of the Phantom Pirates, will be performed at OSSAA string contest in November. Following is Ghosts of Brandenburg by Richard Meyer, offering a lonely but exciting ending to the first half of the group’s performance. Upon regrouping, the Symphony Strings brings sounds of Eastern Asia to the stage with Soon Hee Newbold’s Lion City. Assistant Band Director Andrew Orr brings tropical deluge to the piece, accompanying on rain stick.

Kirt Mosier’s Waltz of the Wicked is next, an eerie waltz harkening back to the days of Baroque ballroom dancing. Sophomore violinist and PoHi Chorale member, Ashlee Patterson, then lends her vocal talents to accompany the orchestra in Larry Moore’s arrangement of You Raise Me Up. The group concludes the concert with Mosier’s two-part journey through Ichabod Crane’s encounter with the Headless Horseman, Two Scenes from the Hollow. Assistant Band Director Keith Crocker narrates as a rigid and delicate tango gives way to an aggressive and desperate chase by the Headless Horseman.

The Symphony Strings combined with the Stillwater High School Orchestra on Sept. 18 for the annual joint concert. Both orchestras are preparing for the OSSAA State String Orchestra Contest on Nov. 13-14, at Edmond Santa Fe High School.  The next Ponca City performance for the two orchestras will be a Holiday Concert with the High School Concert Band on Dec. 10 in the West Middle School Auditorium at 7 p.m.